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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27144878">Tony's Solda’t &amp; Spiderling</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TessaVance/pseuds/TessaVance'>TessaVance</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Zima-Stark Pack [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Hydra Peter Parker, Irondad, Loki &amp; Tony Stark Friendship, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, M/M, Mates, More Spidery Spiderman, No Bashing, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, spider kid, winteriron</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:42:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>40,795</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27144878</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TessaVance/pseuds/TessaVance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Take the Suit off and Tony is a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.<br/>Which is a good thing because there is a child climbing up the side of his building who is being hunted by multiple agencies. His mate who had disappeared for 23 years turns out to be Hydra's best assassin. Then there is the matter of the trickster god he reluctantly rescued who is now refusing to leave Tony's living area.<br/>He is going to need every inch of his skills to keep Shield and the misfit band of Avengers from finding those he is protecting.<br/>Or<br/>How a bunch of reformed baddies are turning into the family Tony always dreamed of but never thought would be his.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Loki &amp; Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Loki &amp; Peter Parker, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Zima-Stark Pack [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026355</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>419</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1139</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Numerous OTPS Infinite Fandoms, Winteriron all the time</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> <br/><span class="u"><strong>1989.</strong> </span></p><p>It was a hot summers night and Tony was dressed to kill as he walked the street looking for the rave, he had heard was extremally good and extremally illegal. <br/>He didn’t find the rave, instead, three males surrounded him cutting off his exits.  </p><p>“Look at this guys, a pretty boy dressed so fine and yet is all on his lonesome. I think we should give him some company.” The ring leader said leering.  </p><p>Now you didn’t have to be a certified genius like Tony to know how this was going to play out.  Three big muscular guys looking to cause hurt, and one scrawny teen who was, Tony reluctantly admitted ‘pretty’ not handsome. </p><p>Still Tony was determined to not go down without a fight.  He knew he would never beat them physically but then; brute strength was never his answer. Instead, he used his wits and clever mouth. The amount of trouble he had managed to talk his way into and then back out again was almost legendary.  </p><p>He knew the worse thing to do in these sorts of situations was look scared or try to flee. Since he was five, he had been trained in how to deal with people who wanted to hurt him. From kidnapping, physical violence to trying to snare him in a honeytrap. </p><p>So, Tony bantered. He didn’t back down; he uses his quick wit and his training. He almost had them at one stage. If it had been a different night, he was sure that it would have worked, but tonight the three men had the scent of violence and they weren’t willing to give it up. </p><p>Suddenly there was a deep snarl from behind Tony and a figure jumped over his head landing in front of him. The figure lashed out and punched the ring leader in the face so hard he fell over backwards. Another rumbling snarl trickled out from the new male. It was answered with three growls coming from Tony’s attackers.  </p><p>Tony stepped back and lent against the wall breathless. Something about this new male whether it was his wild aurora or the completely alpha stance had triggered everyone in the alley, and this went from an attempted assault to a Mating fight. All three males ganged up on the newcomer but he was handling them with ease.  </p><p>Tony wasn’t unaffected either. He could feel his mating gland in his neck begin to itch. He watched appreciatively as this new male moved with economical movements, his strength and talent were showcase as he fought with the others. They were giving it their all, it may not have started this way but the violence and pheromones being pumped into the air brought their base instincts to the front. Now all of them were determined to win the fight and mate with Tony. </p><p>Who wasn’t interested in anybody but the stunning specimen in front of him. Even better in Tony's mind was the fact he was part machine. Tony watched the silver arm movement with awe and a huge desire to take it apart and see how it worked.  </p><p> Tony wanted him so bad. He didn’t know what it was but something about him tip Tony’s primal state to the forefront. The Matting fight barely lasted five minutes before all three men were on the ground and not moving. The Stranger turned and Tony got a glimpse of his face for the first time. He was instantly drawn into the captivating blue eyes that it took him a long moment to realise the man is wearing a muzzle.  </p><p>The Man cocked his head in a question and Tony knew he has a choice here. It didn’t matter who won the fight the person being fought over still got the final choice. Tony held out his hand in acceptance. He found himself suddenly crowded against the wall, metal arm on one side of him and flesh one on the other. Tony tilted his head baring his neck and mating gland.  </p><p>The Man bent his head and leant down breathing in Tony’s sent. A rumbling purr came from his chest and he hitched Tony up with his flesh arm. Tony wrapped his legs around his waist. He was even more turned on at this show of negligent strength. The Man wasn’t troubled by Tony’s weight at all. </p><p>“Name, your name” Tony gasped out. His hands running all over the broad shoulders and down the frankly very impressive arms. There is a long pause and Tony was about to say it doesn’t matter, he wanted him whether he knew his name or not when the man replies. </p><p>“Solda’t,” was spoken from a heavy Russian accent. Tony beamed at him. </p><p>“Solda’t, I'm Tony,” He said.</p><p>He was not able to stop his hands from touching Solda’t all over. Not that he seemed to mind at all. He nuzzled into Tony's hand when he stroked his cheek. Tony wouldn’t mind spending all night right here touching each other except his cock was hard and demanding and going by the firmness nestled up under his ass, it was not the only one. He shifted his hips rubbing against Solda’t and let out a low whine. He was becoming more and more feral and if Solda’t didn’t take them somewhere private soon then Tony was not going to care if they were in the middle of Times Square, he will be mating no matter where they are.  </p><p>Solda’t got the memo because he lifted away from the wall and carried Tony deeper into the alleyway. The other end opened up to a tiny square of concrete surrounded by apartment blocks. There was trash and graffiti everywhere. Solda’t took them over to a junker of a car, that had no wheels and with the bonnet popped Tony can see it had no engine. But it still had its doors and more importantly its seats.  </p><p>Solda’t opened the back door and Tony scrambled in, Solda’t followed a moment later. Tony reached for Solda’t head and unbuckled the Muzzle. Solda’t leant forward and licked a stripe up Tony neck over his Mating gland then let out a pleased purr at the whine that produced from Tony. He stripped Tony's pants off then positioned Tony so he was facing out the back-window kneeling on the seat with his knees spread apart and ass in the air. Tony thumped his head on the top of the seat and panted. He never thought he would present, but holy mother is he presenting and so, so eager for it. </p><p>Solda’t spread his ass cheeks and laid the tip of his metal thumb against Tony’s opening. </p><p>“Mine” He rumbled. </p><p>“Yes, yes, yours!” Tony babbled back. He was pleasantly surprised when he felt cool liquid at his entrance before the thumb was pressed smoothly in. He had no idea where the hell Solda’t got the lube from but he was so not complaining. He was eager enough that he had been prepared to take it dry, even if that was going to be painful. He sent a silent thanks to the primal gods that he didn’t have to.  </p><p>The thumb pressed slowly in then twisted a little and gods does that feel good. It is slightly cool and harder than normal and is pressing all the buttons of Tony’s machine kink that he didn’t realise he had. The thumb was withdrawn and Tony chased after it sticking his arse out. Solda’t put his flesh hand on his lower back pinning him in place then the cool hand is back with more lube. This time it’s a finger that slowly enters and same as the thumb twist and turns feeling every inch of him.  </p><p>It was like Solda’t was trying to memorize him by feel. He half withdrew before entering again. He set up a leisurely pace not going any faster no matter how much Tony whined and pleaded. Tony had never had someone take so much time to open him up. Before Solda’t mostly people only did it long enough to get him prepped and ready and then that was it. Tony wasn’t sure if he loved it or not. It felt good, so good. But it wasn’t enough, his body wanted more wanted to chase after the orgasm that was building.  </p><p>But he couldn’t, Solda’t had him pinned in place and he could barely move his hips. Every time he did it brushed just the tip of his cock against the leather seat. Sending a tingle travelling down his cock and into his balls, but it also wasn't even close to enough. No matter how much he struggled or squirmed he couldn’t change anything, so he gave himself over to the sensation that Solda’t is slowly and steadily building within him.   </p><p>By the time Solda’t has four fingers rocking in him Tony was a sobbing mess. His cock has been leaking precum for a while now and Tony was reduced to wordless noises. Solda’t pulled out his fingers and Tony clenched down on air whimpering at the empty feeling. Solda’t whispered something soothing in Russian and a moment later Tony can feel the head of his cock at his entrance. Slowly Solda’t began to push in and even with all the prep and four fingers opening him it's still a stretch. Tony rumbled pleased. He had always been a bit of a size queen and this was perfect.  </p><p>It takes time as Solda’t worked his way in going forwards and backwards. Each time pushing that little bit further than the time before. When he bottomed out, he leant forward pressing their bodies together and placed his arms on top of Tony's pulling his hands from the grip on the top of the seat and linking their fingers together. He then pulled their arms out until they touched the window stretching Tony out beneath him.  </p><p>He nuzzled at Tony's neck who obligingly tilted his head so Solda’t had access to the throbbing mating gland. Solda’t licked and sucked at it getting it ready for the bite. Tony sighed arching into the contact his mind split between the pleasant suckling at his neck and the feeling of being so full coming from his arse. Once his body adjusted to the size of Solda’t he flexed his hips a bit. Solda’t took that as a sign and began to move.  </p><p>Tony had thought that Solda’t would be as slow and methodical as he had been before but he was in for a surprise. Solda’t moved with a rolling motion that started in his abdomen and rippled down into his hips. Which translated into powerful short thrust. He set a punishing pace and then kept to it. The extra roll he was doing meant his cock not only hit Tony prostrate on his upstroke but slid against it on the way back out. Tony couldn’t do much more than relax his body and accept Solda’t in him. The motion was making his cock hit the seat with a steady rhythm. He could feel his balls start to tighten drawing up and Tony reckoned this will be the first time he would ever come with his cock untouched. Solda’t lifted his head and snarled </p><p>“Mate! Mine!”  </p><p>Before biting down on Tony’s mating gland. Tony vison whitened out and he came instantly. He felt Solda’t slam into him again then pause as he flooded Tony's insides. The sensation causes both of them to release hormones starting the mating process. </p><p>Tony’s head clears then his heart leapt. Solda’t was still biting the gland. This wasn’t going to be a temporary mating like all the others but a long term one. Tony gasped in joy as his heart filled with warmth. Finally, finally here was someone who wanted him. Wanted him for a long time, not just a passing fling. The longer Solda’t held on the more Tony’s heart filled, his breathing had kicked up and he knew he must be flooding the car with his hopefully pleased pheromones. He never thought that he would ever get someone willing to even go so far as a long term mating. But his foolish heart was running away with him. Making him dream for the impossible. </p><p>“Please, please” He begged breathlessly.  </p><p>Solda’t pulled at his hips working himself in a tiny fraction deeper as he let out a reassuring growl. It vibrated against Tony's gland sending shocks of pleasure through his body. Tony’s back arched and he screamed as he came again. Tightening down on Solda’t penis not letting it go.  Solda’t grunted still not letting go of the gland. He was permanently scaring it claiming a lifelong bond. There would never be anyone else for Tony now. He has his Mate he needs no other. </p><p>Tony is not sure how much time passes before Solda’t finally removes his teeth. The feel of the breeze brushing against his now oversensitive gland made Tony shiver.  Solda’t murmured to him. Tony relaxed to the sounds of the unknown Russian words. A short time after that He felt Solda’t soften enough that he slipped from Tony. The come that Solda’t had flooded him with also drips out and Tony grimaced at the mess, knowing there was nothing to clean it up. He sacrificed his designer shirt, preferring to walk around topless then with that sticky mess clinging to him. Once they were both clean and tucked away Solda’t climbed over to sit in the front. Tony followed and happily sat in his lap facing his new Mate.  </p><p>“My turn,” Tony said seductively. Solda’t looked at him solemnly for a moment with no expression then he bared his neck. Tony leant forward and licked it, humming at the taste. He wormed his hand down Solda’t chest and cupped him only to have Solda’t gently take his hand off. Tony looked at him confused as Solda’t shook his head then he bared his neck again and tapped his gland with a finger. </p><p>“You want me to bite you cold?” Tony asked trying to understand. </p><p>“Da” Solda’t agrees. </p><p>“That’s going to hurt, a lot,” Tony warns. “Without the happy hormones flooding your system the Mating bite is said to be extremely painful.” </p><p>“Da, I know,” Solda’t said. </p><p>“I don’t want to cause you pain.” </p><p>Solda’t frowns as he struggles to explain. </p><p>“Pain is good. Is real. Not a lie.” He said slowly.  </p><p>Tony looked at him considering. “You want it to hurt because that way you know it really happens and wasn’t just a dream or a hallucination,” Tony stated, </p><p> He completely understood where Solda’t was coming from. Most things in his life he saw through the haze of acholic and it was getting to the stage where he wasn’t always sure what was real and what was his messed-up mind. He couldn’t be more thankful that Solda’t had found him before he had drunk anything today. It meant he would be keeping this memory crystal clear.  </p><p>Solda’t nodded and Tony couldn’t argue with wanting proof. He still sucked and licked the gland trying his best to prepare it. Just because he understood didn’t mean he wanted to cause any unnecessary pain to his mate if it could be avoided.  </p><p>He took a deep breath and asked “Ready?” </p><p>Solda’t had his hands wrapped around Tony’s hips holding him firmly in his lap as he nodded. Tony placed a kiss on the gland before he opened his mouth and bit down as hard as he could. Solda’t body jolted a little with the initial pain then settled. Tony held on, his body will tell him once he has scared the gland making it a permanent mark. He is not sure how he knows but he does.  </p><p>Every other time he has ever done this it had just been a single bite which he let go a second after starting. A temporary mating. This, this was different. He could feel his thinking change. Making him protective of Solda’t and wanting to take him away from here keep him safe. He would defend him from all comers and provide all he needed.  <br/>Tony purred proudly. Look at how good his mate was, look how well he took the pain Tony gave him and didn’t back down. Solda’t let out a pleased grumble as Tony pride in him flood the small space. Tony shifted even closer his thighs tightening against Solda’t’s as he wrapped his arms around his torso. Pinning him in place.  </p><p>Tony never felt more powerful than he did right then. He knew that Solda’t was stronger than him but at this moment Tony’s mind was the dominate one and Solda’t submitted relaxing his body letting Tony pin him in place. Tony was truly blessed by the gods. He hadn’t even been looking and yet they had given him the perfect mate. He knew even if he searched the rest of the world, he would never find someone as well suited to him as Solda’t was.   </p><p>He didn’t know how long he held the bite for, a lot longer than Solda’t did for him.  He obviously scared easier the Solda’t did but he could feel he was almost done. His mind had shifted into a pleasant hazy as he held Solda’t down. Solda’t had been stroking his sides with his flat palm in the limited amount of movement Tony’s grip allowed him.  </p><p>It was done. Tony careful removed his mouth from Solda’t gland and sat back releasing him from his tight hold. He couldn’t help himself rumbling pleased at the clear teeth marks standing out from the swollen gland, his hand reached out and brush against it without his permission. But Solda’t didn’t flinch tilting his neck slightly encouraging Tony to touch it more. Tony stroked it heart thumping at the proof that here was someone who belonged to him. He pressed his thumb against it causing Solda’t hips to twitch. Tony grinned up at him wickedly. It looks like Solda’t got off on a bit of pain with his pleasure.  </p><p>Solda’t head abruptly cocked and he listened to something Tony couldn’t hear. He then turned back to Tony with disappointment in his eyes.  </p><p>“I have to go.” He said pulling Tony close and breathing deep taking Tony’s scent and imprinting it deep within his mind. Tony clung to him for a moment before reluctantly getting out of the car.  </p><p>“I don’t want you to go.” He says sulkily. </p><p>“My mate” Solda’t said possessively. “I will find you again,” he promised.  </p><p>Tony places a kiss on the swollen gland.  </p><p>“You better, you take too long and I will find you myself.” Tony shoots back.  </p><p>Solda’t nodded then swooped down and gave Tony a quick possessives kiss before running off disappearing incredibly quickly for such a big guy in an empty part of town.  <br/>Tony stood there for a moment longer before heading home. He was no longer interested in getting drunk at some rave. He was now extremely tired from all the emotion's and actives and wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. Besides his parents were going to freak out enough as it was when they saw the permanent scar on his throat. <br/> </p><p><span class="u"><strong>2012</strong></span> </p><p><br/>Tony was wired again. He had been exhausted after the battle for New York against Loki and the alien army, but now when every had gone off to sleep Tony found himself pacing the penthouse his mind on fire. Some of it would have to do with the fact he didn’t want to go to sleep he was afraid he would end up dreaming about the wormhole but the rest of it was just Tony’s genius brain being itself. He had come down from the adrenaline and now his brain was kicking back into normal gear which meant about a hundred times faster than everyone else.  </p><p>“What do you say J.A.R.V.I.S, are you up for helping me design a floor for each of the avengers? Since I have to remodel anyway might as well break out the big guns and do it all at once.” Tony said. </p><p>“For you, Sir, always” Came J.A.R.V.I.S reply. “Although I'm concerned about the futility of the exercise” </p><p>“Don’t be like that J.A.R.V.I.S, yes I know they all refused to stay here tonight but that’s because this place is a wreck and isn’t, Yet, all that accommodating for the heroes. But I'm sure we will blow their minds when they see what we come up with for their floors.” Tony waved his hands dismissively. </p><p>“Although I think I'm going to keep this bit of floor where Hulk smashed Loki. I’ll put a glass covering over the top and whenever I'm having a bad day I'll just come and stand here and look down. To remind myself even gods get their asses handed to them occasionally.” Tony mussed looking at the crater in his floor. </p><p>“Very avant-garde Sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S said dryly.  </p><p>Tony grinned and headed over to his mini bar which was surprisingly still in place and started to make himself a drink. </p><p>“Sir, I should inform you that there is a toddler of unknown age crawling up the side of the building. I don’t have any protocols in place for what to do in such a circumstance.” J.A.R.V.I.S suddenly said. </p><p>“What!” Tony asked astounded. “J.A.R.V.I.S buddy are you feeling alright? Were your servers affected in the battle?” He pulled over one of his Stark pads and began to check J.A.R.V.I.S’ coding.  </p><p>“My servers were not touched are performing at optimum levers,” J.A.R.V.I.S said in affront “None the less there is still a child crawling up the building. By my calculation, they should reach the penthouse balcony in one minute and forty-five seconds” </p><p>Tony frowned down at the code then with a sigh he put the Pad down and walked over to the balcony to placate J.A.R.V.I.S.  </p><p>“Alright, I'll go look for this magical crawling kid,” Tony said.  </p><p>He opened the balcony and walked out looking around. His eyes were drawn the to view of the city and he chewed his lip as he looked at the destruction that was all around. It would take New York months if not years to recover from this. Mentally he made a note to talk with Pepper and see what SI was doing to help. He would be willing to throw some of his personal wealth at it if it meant it helps people get back on their feet faster. Tearing his eyes away Tony made a proper effort as he looked all over the balcony. He saw plenty of structural damage and debris but he couldn’t find another living thing in sight. </p><p>“Ok, I'm here and I looked but there is no kid. I’m going to get some better wiring for your sensors.” Tony said a bit concerned with what was happing to his beloved A.I. </p><p>“The child is currently on the underside of the balcony.” Came J.A.R.V.I.S voice stiff with formality.  </p><p>Tony held in a sigh and went to the edge of the balcony. Only for his beloved creations was he willing to keep indulging them like this if anybody else had kept going on Tony would have blown them off ages ago. If J.A.R.V.I.S on the other hand was insisting there was a child on the underside of his balcony Tony was going to personally check.  </p><p>He lay down on the concrete and gripping hold of the edge he pulled himself out a little then bent his head so he could see underneath. Tony jerked back with shock as brown startled eyes meet his.     </p><p>“Holy fuck there is a kid under there!” He exclaimed as he came back on the balcony  </p><p>“Wow Sir, I never would have guessed.” J.A.R.V.I.S snarked back. </p><p>He looked around wildly hoping for something to miraculously pop into appearance that he could use to get the child. </p><p>“Shit, what if he falls? I need to get him to safety,” Tony babbled.  </p><p>Nothing appeared and he was afraid if he left to get in his suit the child would fall to their death before he could get to them.  He hooked his leg around an exposed metal strut and then lent over the balcony again but this time most of his torso was hanging off as he looked for the child. They had moved so they were further out of reach and were watching Tony suspiciously.  </p><p>“Come on Kid, let's get you out of there,” Tony said soothingly and reached out. The child didn’t move still watching him with their big brown eyes.  </p><p>“Come here, come on I'll give you a cookie if you come here” Tony tried to entice.  </p><p>The child cocked his head and crawled diagonally across the balcony. Not coming any closer to Tony but at least they were moving. Tony would have paid more attention to try and figure out how they were sticking to the building but his head was filling with blood from hanging upside down and it was throwing everything off.  </p><p>Figuring this strategy was a lost battle Tony pulled himself upright away from the edge.  </p><p>“I can’t get close enough to grab him,” Tony said frustrated </p><p>“Might I suggest offering him food? I noticed him trying to eat some of the rubble earlier.” J.A.R.V.I.S replied. </p><p>“I did, I bribed him with a cookie, what kid doesn’t like cookies!” </p><p>“Perhaps a visual showing of the food instead of oral?” </p><p>“Right, ok.” Tony stood up and stormed back into the penthouse in a mission. “Food, do we have food close by J.A.R.V.I.S?” </p><p>“Ms Potts has left a box of her protein bars in the cupboard.”  </p><p>Tony screw up his face at the super healthy snack but as it was closest and he didn’t have time to waste he went to get it. Pulling out a bar he unwrapped it and hurried back to the balcony. He once again hooked his ankle around the strut and lent back down. The child had crept closer Tony was relieved to see. He held out the bar and coaxed </p><p>“Look see I have a nice cookie for you. You just have to come here to get it.”  </p><p>To Tony’s surprise, this worked. The child crawled closer, stopping now and then to look at him hesitantly but still coming closer until they were within Tonys reach and they held out a hand for the protein bar. Tony handed it across and then quickly grabbed the child around the middle.  He went to pull them up only to come to a jarring halt. His ankle twinge in protest as they didn’t budge an inch. Tony realised that however the child was sticking to the building there was no way he was going to be able to remove him unless the child wanted it.  </p><p>“Come on Buckaroo, do you want to come inside?” Tony asked tiredly.  </p><p>The child blinked and then crawled into Tony’s arms. Tony grunted at the sudden increase of weight and slowly pulled the two of them up onto the balcony privately thanking that he had been working out to pilot the Iron Man suit. It's what gave him the upper body strength to accomplish this.  Once there Tony carried the child into the penthouse limping on his sore ankle and sat them down on top of the bar. The child was munching down the protein bar like it was a block of chocolate and watching Tony placidly having lost all distrust of him since he offered them food.  </p><p>“J.A.R.V.I.S start scanning, let's see if we can’t figure out who we have got here,” Tony said and looked the child over critically.</p><p>Tony was hopeless at guessing children's ages he could see that they were young older than a baby but still not big enough to be a kid going to school. They had brown wavy hair and brown eyes. They were dressed in a onesie that was originally bland grey but now had black smudges and dirt from the child climbing buildings that had been involved in a battle. The kid had dirt on their face and Tony thought he could see some spiderwebs in their hair.  </p><p>Tony took hold of the hand not currently holding the protein bar and brought it up to examine it. That motion must have been familiar because the child flexed his fingers in automatic response and Tony saw thousands of tiny little hairs poke up through the skin on the child's fingertips.  </p><p>“Huh,” Tony said. </p><p>He also noticed on the inner wrist had a tapering bump with a small opening. </p><p>“What’s this?” Tony asked the room at large perplexed.  </p><p>“I’m afraid I don’t have sufficient data to answer that” J.A.R.V.I.S replied.  </p><p>Tony looked at the child and asked </p><p>“Hey Buckaroo, what’s your name?” </p><p>The child looked at Tony intelligently but didn’t answer. </p><p>“Ok, can you tell me what this is?” Tony tried pointing at the bump. </p><p>The child shoved the rest of the bar in their mouth then flicked their free wrist. Tony ducked yelping as a white projectile shot out. He spun around and stared opened mouthed at the web that was splayed out over his flat screen.  </p><p>“What. In. The. Hell!!” Tony exclaimed. </p><p>“Ah, given that display I would hazard a guess that the intrusion on his wrist are in fact spinnerets.” J.A.R.V.I.S offered.  </p><p>“Spinnerets?” </p><p>“Most commonly found on Spiders or larva of insects, a spinneret is a silk-spinning organ,” J.A.R.V.I.S informed him. “The spider traits would also explain how the child was climbing up the building and the extra hairs on their fingertips and toes.” </p><p>“Do you have any other Spider parts?” Tony asked curiously. </p><p>The child swallowed the last of the bar and then opened their mouth. It took Tony a long time to notice anything else because he was staring at the fangs glistering with what he was convinced was venom. But eventually Tony realised the back of the mouth and opening to the throat didn’t look normal either. If he had to hazard a guess it was changed to accommodate the venom sacks, but wet science had never been his things and he could be completely wrong.  </p><p>“Good to know,” Tony said weakly and the child closed their mouth looking at Tony expectantly.  </p><p>“So, one of the Mutant kids?” Tony guessed. </p><p>“Once again I couldn’t say although there is an 85% chance you are correct,” J.A.R.V.I.S replied.  </p><p>“I’ll have a talk with Charles in the morning,” Tony muttered mostly to himself. "Make a note will you."</p><p>“Alright Buckaroo, let's go get you cleaned up.” He picks them up and they happily sat on his hip as he walked them over to his bathroom.  J.A.R.V.I.S had turned on the shower for them and Tony smiled in gratitude at one of J.A.R.V.I.S sensors. Tony put the child on the sink and urging them to stand up he unzipped the zipper and peeled the filthy onesies off. He carried the little boy over to the shower and opening the door he put the boy down urged him in. The boy obediently walked under the water before leaping back in surprise.  </p><p>“What? What wrong?” Tony asked.  </p><p>The boy didn’t reply but held out his hand and let the warm water run over it he shot Tony a look of wonder and surprise then scrambled back under the water. Tony got a sinking feeling in his gut. What child, even a mutant child had never felt warm water before? The little boy was happily twisting and turning in the water which was running off him in muddy brown rivets. Tony got his loofah and squirting some shower gel onto it handed it to the boy. Who took it but then didn’t do anything else. </p><p>“You use it to wash yourself with, buddy,” Tony said and mimicked washing his arms. The little boy copied Tony’s movement then grinned with delight at the foamy bubbles this produced. He seemed to take great pleasure in scrubbing each part of himself until his skin glowed a rosy pink. Tony then had to step in and encourage him to move to the next bit of the body. Once that was done Tony figured he better wash the kid's hair himself. He poured his shampoo in and started to massage it in much to the little boy's delight. It was only once he had scooped all the hair up onto his head that Tony saw the bar code on the back of the little boy’s neck. It had been branded onto his skin and Tony got a horrible feeling. </p><p>“J.A.R.V.I.S scan and run this,” He said shortly not wanting to draw the little boy’s attention to it.  </p><p>“At once sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S replied. </p><p>Once the child was as clean. Tony wrapped him in one of his bath towels and picked him up. It absolutely swamped the boy. There was a little bit of wriggling then a tiny face appeared. The big eyes looking up at Tony trustingly. It was right at this moment that Tony felt his heart melt and a giant surge of protectiveness took over him. He always had a soft spot for kids but this child had just waltzed past all of his guards and walls and planted himself right in the middle of Tony’s heart. </p><p>There had better be an absolute fan-fucking-tastic reason for everything Tony had discovered. If he wasn’t one hundred per cent happy with the explanation well then, the boy’s family were going to find themselves without a child and suffer the scrutiny of J.A.R.V.I.S looking into every aspect of their lives.  </p><p>Walking into his bedroom Tony dried off the little boy and for a lack of anything else dressed him in an old Band t-shirt. he then repurposes one of his ties to become a belt. Which both pulled the t-shirt in close to his body and allowed Tony to tuck some of it to the belt so it wouldn’t drag on the floor.   </p><p>Taking the Kid back out to the living room Tony got J.A.R.V.I.S to take his measurements and order in some clothing his size. Having nothing else to offer Tony fed the boy the rest of the box of protein bars. The kid happily ate every single one and looked up sadly once the box was empty. </p><p>“Sorry Buckaroo, that’s all I've got at the moment. But J.A.R.V.I.S will order another box for you.” Tony said. </p><p>“Due to his enhanced statues his metabolism will be a lot higher, might I suggest the next box of ‘cookies’ be one with this in mind,” J.A.R.V.I.S offered. “There is a brand that caters for such needs and the bars come in three favours. Chocolate, strawberry, and Vanilla.”  </p><p>“Great get two of each flavour and Buddy here can decide which one he likes best,” Tony replied.  </p><p>“Very good Sir.” </p><p>Tony looked down at the little boy who now he had nothing to distract him was slowly blinking his eyes, each blink lasting longer than the one before. A yawn crept out and then tired eyes look blearily up at him.  </p><p>“Alright, time for bed for tiny Spiderlings,” Tony announced and scooped the child up carrying him back to his bed as he had nowhere else to put him. He pulled back the covers and lay the boy down. Tony went to straighten up but found a tiny hand clenched around the t-shirt he was wearing.  </p><p>“Look kid, I've got to do some more work, I can’t go to sleep yet.” </p><p>The boy’s expression didn’t change and his hand didn’t let go. Sighing Tony kicked off his shoes and got into bed laying down beside him.  </p><p>“Alright, but just until you fall asleep, then I’m getting back up,” Tony warned.</p><p>The boy seemed content with this snuggling down as Tony pulled the blankets up. The kid lay his head on Tony’s upper arm gave one more yawn which once again flashed his fangs then closed his eyes. Tony looked down at the child using him as a pillow in mild alarm and uncertainty. He had no idea of what the hell he was doing or how he was supposed to act around a kid this young. Going with his tried and true policy of ignoring it in the hopes it will go away Tony grabbed a Stark pad from the bedside table with his free arm.  </p><p>“Alright J, hit me, buddy, what did you find?” Tony whispered </p><p>“I haven’t been able to get a lot so far,” J.A.R.V.I.S replied from the Pad speakers equally as soft. “Just warning you Sir, you won’t like what I have found.” </p><p>“What do you mean?” </p><p>In answer, J.A.R.V.I.S pulled up window after window on the Pad. Tony’s jaw clenched down in anger as he started to read. J.A.R.V.I.S had run the bar code and it had led to a company Tony had never heard of. J.A.R.V.I.S had broken past the firewall and it turned out they were conduction human experiment. The little boy Tony had in his arms didn’t belong to a family but instead was one of the test subjects. He had been created and experimented in an artificial womb using donated egg and sperm and was born in the labs. They were trying to see if they could give animal abilities to humans to create better soldiers.  </p><p>This little boy had been one of their only success rates. By modifying him in the womb they had been able to manipulate his DNA, splicing it with that of multiple different Spiders species. Anyone they had tried this on after they were born had only lived for months, months of complete agony as their bodies torn themselves apart trying rejecting the foreign DNA. The longest-lasting excluding the kid was twenty-five months. </p><p>Tony shifted through the Kids file. He didn’t have a name by his designation was P.T 96538967245. He was four years old and enhanced as hell.  </p><p>Physically His strength and flexibility were incredibly high. Tony was pretty sure the Kids scores were better than Steve Rogers, Captain America himself. Healing was also enhanced but not astoundingly so. Tony knew of quite a few enhanced who were better at it. The kid could take more than a normal baseline Human but he could still bleed and get hurt.  </p><p>Internally his body produces its own venom and also webs. He had extra hairs at the end of his fingers and toes giving him the ability to climb any surface. The scientist had still been running test but they believed he had an extra sense that allowed him to detect danger.  </p><p>Mentally they had been disappointed, he had failed test after test. The boy didn’t have the killing instinct. Whenever they had put him in a fight situation, he would willingly take down his enemies but refused to kill them. He had been seen to help out an ally on multiple different occasions. He was never aggressive or dominate to his handlers. And while they like the fact he was obedient This was not what they were looking for in a solider.  </p><p>Tony stopped breathing as he read.  </p><p>
  <em>Asset doesn’t comply with base standards. Recommend termination after the fifth year of use and dismantling with all parts to be kept in cold storage for further study.   </em>
</p><p>Anger flared up in him. These fuck wits had a sweet little boy who didn’t want to hurt anyone and their response to this is to kill him and autopsy his body so they can figure out what went wrong! Well, they can shove that desire up their asses. They were never getting Tony’s Buckaroo back. </p><p>“J.A.R.V.I.S, find everything you can on this company. We are going to completely destroy them. Once you have all his files saved on our server wipe anything that even remotely mentions this kid.” </p><p>“It will be my pleasure, Sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S said eagerly.   </p><p>Tony wasn’t sure how it happened but somewhere between reading the boy’s files and watching the incredible soothing sight of the child breathing deeply in slumber, he fell asleep. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p><br/>J.A.R.V.I.S watched as his creator slept one hand wrapped protectively over the boy child designation ‘Buckaroo’. </p><p>
  <strong>Assessing: </strong>
</p><p>Running Sir’s biological statues.  </p><p>Blood pressure dropping out of dangerously high levels </p><p>system was currently being flooded with oxytocin.  </p><p>Sleeping without the aid of alcohol for the first time in two years six months and three days. </p><p>
  <strong>Conclusion: </strong>
</p><p>Inconclusive, recommend more studies to see if promising data continues to trend.  </p><p><strong>Recommendation:</strong> keep the boy child designation ‘Buckaroo’ in Sir’s life. </p><p>Deleting reminder to call Charles Xavier leader of hero's X-men and headmaster of mutant school. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony sat up abruptly heart pounding and gasping for breath. The nightmare had been a bad one. The wormhole had featured heavily in it. He heard a noise and it took him a long second to recognise it as someone talking in the kitchen. Alarmed he looked for the little boy but couldn’t find him.  </p><p>“J.A.R.V.I.S, where’s the kid?” Tony asked </p><p>“The child is currently in the kitchen. Sir.” </p><p>Tony fell out of bed and shot towards the kitchen. He didn’t have everything in place yet to protect his Buckaroo. Until he did, he couldn’t let anyone else know that he was here. Stumbling in he found Pepper talking the J.A.R.V.I.S as she scrolled through her STARK pad. Unnoticed by her crawling on the ceiling directly above her head was the spiderling. Tony gaped at the sight, heart still in his throat at the danger of discovery.  </p><p>“Tony, I’m pleased to see you up and not hidden away in your workshop,” Pepper said when she caught sight of him. Tony did his best to wipe his expression clean. But Peper was one of the few people who really knew him. </p><p>“What’s wrong?” She asked. </p><p>“Wrong? Why would something be wrong?” Tony said making sure to not look at the child crawling above them. He headed over to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup taking a gulp he hissed at the burning sensation before sighing in relief at the taste. </p><p>“Because you're rubbing your Mating scar, and you only do that when you are worried,” Pepper replied </p><p>Tony dropped his hand from the scar on his neck. He hadn’t even realised he had been doing that, but now that he had stopped the comforting sensation ceased as well. Only Pepper, Rodney and Happy knew how much the scar meant to Tony despite there being no Mate to go along with it.  </p><p>Tony looked around for inspiration to explain what he was so worried about before catching sight of the destruction outside. </p><p>“Aliens!” He blurted. “Aliens are real, and they aren’t green martian’s that coming in peace looking for some anal probe action but huge ugly vicious bastard that wants to kill us. And incredible strong long-living beings that call themselves gods. It's enough to stress any man” </p><p>Peper eyed him unsure but she couldn’t refute that yesterday had been terribly stressful.  </p><p>“Alright,” She agreed. “Do you want to talk about it? Do you need me to make an appointment with a physiologist?” </p><p>“What, no” Tony said waving his arms and almost spilling his coffee. “Pep, Peppy, Pep of my life I'll be fine, I just need a couple of days to settle and you know get used to the idea and all.” </p><p>Pepper frown at him but knew him well enough to know that pushing right now would get her now where.  </p><p>“On to business then,” She began. Tony seeing the Spiderling about to crawl into her line of sight grabbed her upper arm and swung them around before dragging Pepper to the couch. He pushed her into sitting down before dragging a chair across so he could sit opposite her.  </p><p>“Tony, what on earth are you doing” She scolded. </p><p>She now had her back towards the child and Tony pretended to look at her as he watched the little boy climb through the doorway and disappear from sight. </p><p>“I just thought we should sit while talking business,” Tony explained.  </p><p>Pepper huffed but pulled out her Stark pad and began to explain what damage SI had taken in the battle, what the plans were for renovating, and what SI was doing to help with the relief aid. Tony listened and added his thoughts as needed and for the next couple of hours, the two of them were serious and focused as they went through everything as well as getting Tony to sign various forms needed to keep the business running. At the end of it Pepper stood up straightening her clothes she headed to the elevator then paused at the entrance </p><p>“I have no idea what it is that your hiding but I'm not going to pry. Because whatever it is just allowed us to get through what would normally be a weeks' worth of me nagging you every day to accomplish. Just promise me that you will give me the heads up about whatever it is before the media gets a wind of it.” </p><p>Tony smiled gratefully at Pepper.  </p><p>“I promise, I just need a couple of days to get things organised.” </p><p>“Will that be all Mr Stark?” </p><p>“That’s all, Ms Potts,” Tony replied pleased that it ended on a good note even though she knew he wasn’t telling her everything.  </p><p>“Phew, that was close,” Tony said collapsing back. </p><p>“Indeed Sir, I believe the boy child is looking for food. I took the liberty of having the ‘cookie’ we were discussing last night brought up here and placed in the cupboards.”  </p><p>Tony got up and walked to the cupboard he grabbed the first box and saw it was strawberry flavoured. Figuring at this stage one flavour was probably as good as another he headed down the hallway looking for the child. He found the little boy in his bedroom once more.  </p><p>The boy had been jumping on the bed reaching frankly an impressive height considering the mattress he was bouncing on. He stopped once he caught sight of Tony freezing like he wasn’t sure if he had been allowed to do that in the first place.  </p><p>Tony vaguely thought he remembered something about not allowing kids to do so but could remember why. He made a mental note to read up on how to parent but had more pressing issues for the moment.  </p><p>“Hope off there,” Tony said, “I have food.” He placed the box on the tablet and the child scrambled off the bed and came over to join him. The little boy looked at the box hungrily but made no move to touch it. Tony reached out and opened the box pulling out a bar he unsealed it then handed it across. The child took the bar from Tony's hand and began to eat. Going but the munching noises and the expression on his face Tony figured Strawberry was a hit.  </p><p>“Right, first things first, we have got to give you a name.”  </p><p>The boy continued to eat watching Tony placidly. </p><p>“Ok, um what do you think about Frank?” Tony said pulling the first name that came to mind. The boy’s expression didn’t change one iota.  </p><p>“No, alright um, Josh? Harry? Ben?” Tony continued to rattle off names. He could have been speaking Chinese for all the reaction the little boy was giving it. Tony huffed frustrated </p><p>“I’m not going to call you P.T9653....” Tony trailed off for the first time the boy was looking at Tony expectantly. </p><p>“P.T,” Tony said. The boy came to him obediently. Tony picked him up sat him in his lap while he rolled the letters around in his mind before saying. </p><p>“Your name is Peter, Petey for short.” </p><p>Peter beamed up at him.  </p><p>“Great, that’s sorted. J.A.R.V.I.S what’s on my schedule for today?” </p><p>“You have a meeting with SHIELD in two hours Sir.”  </p><p>Tony sighed but considering everything that happened figured he better go. Especially since he didn’t want the twin spy’s to come sniffing around the tower and find Peter. While they had worked well as a team Tony still didn’t trust them yet outside of battle situations.  </p><p>“Alright, Buckaroo, up you get, I've got to go have a shower.” Peter jumped down and ran to the bathroom. Tony followed only to find a naked boy standing in the stall looking up at the showerhead expectantly. Tony’s shirt and tie that he had been wearing was lying crumpled on the floor. </p><p>“Oooookay then, I guess we’re taking a shower,” Tony said. He stripped off and gathering both is clothes and Peters he threw them into the laundry shute before stepping into the shower. J.A.R.V.I.S instantly turned the water on and both males were bathed in warm water. Tony let Peter splash about his feet while he washed himself. Peter was entertained by the frothy bubbles falling off Tony’s skin and kept slapping his hand in the puddles giggling as they broke apart. Tony handed his loather down to Peter reloaded with more shower gel and then kept half an eye on him as Peter began to scrub away.   </p><p>Once they were done Tony wrapped Peter up in a towel again and plonked him down on the bed while he quickly dried and dressed himself. J.A.R.V.I.S informed him that some of the clothes he had ordered last night had arrived and Tony brought the package back into the bedroom. He pulled out some black pants and an Iron man t-shirt which he lay out on the bed. Once Peter was dry Tony watched as Peter dressed himself. He wasn’t that great at it yet the pants were crocked and the t-shirt needed to be pulled further down but all in all, it wasn’t a bad effort. </p><p>“Right, J.A.R.V.I.S can you send DUM-E and U up?” Tony asked.  </p><p>“Right away Sir,”  </p><p>Once the bots arrived Tony introduced Peter to them. There was a lot of close examination and pokes and prods from all three before they were satisfied. Tony led them to a spare room right next to his bedroom that he was already making plans to transform into Peter’s room.  </p><p>Tony knelt and looked at the two Bots and one Boy. </p><p>“Alright Kids, I have got to go out for a meeting, so I want you guys to play nicely together while I'm away. J.A.R.V.I.S is going to be in charge until I get back.” </p><p>DUM-E and U beeped agreeably while Peter stuck his thumb in his mouth and looked at Tony from beneath his lashes uncertainty.  </p><p>“I’m coming back, Petey Pie I promise. But for now, you get to play with some new friends. When you get hungry let J.A.R.V.I.S know and he will organise some more cookies for you.”  </p><p>Peter brighten up at the word cookie and he looked hopefully at Tony. Who sighed and walked back into his bedroom where he had left the packet. He removed another bar and returned handing it to Peter. He instantly took a huge bite chewing happily. Pleased that he seemed content with this Tony started to leave, just as he walked through the doorway, he saw Peter look at DUM-E then break off some of the bar and offer it to the Bot. Tony couldn’t help the proud smile that broke across his face at the sight. Damm but this was one sweet kid. It was with a lot of reluctance that Tony left them alone and head out of the building.   </p>
<hr/><p> <br/>
The Meeting at SHIELD was pure torture. It wasn’t just everybody going over every second of the fight analysing what they did and how they could do it better, but the fact that now they weren’t in a battle Steve Rogers had returned to whatever issue he had with Tony. There was a lot of passive-aggressive remarks made and dirty looks shot his way. The rest of the team did nothing to interfere. He was sure that Thor hadn’t realised what was going on but the Spy twin certain had. Clint watched the battle of wits with glee while Natasha looked bored. Even Fury wasn’t doing anything about it just pushing past it like a bull in a china shop.  </p><p><em>I should have been like Bruce and just not turned up.</em> Tony thought sourly as the meeting progressed into its third hour. If this is what it means to be part of the Avengers Team then Tony was having serious second thoughts. He still wanted to help the world but Iron man had been a hero for years before this ragtag group of misfits got together and nothing was stopping him from continuing to do so.  </p><p>As the meeting wound on Tony felt his reserves harden. He had never been much of a team player and except for world-ending events he wouldn’t be. He would play along enough to be a consultant it would keep his foot in the door without dragging him away from other more important things. But otherwise, Fury could keep his boy band to himself.  </p><p>Once the meeting was done Tony sprung up. </p><p>“Rogers, can I have a word?” He said </p><p>Tony thought the only reason Steve stayed behind was because it would have been horribly rude not to. Let's hear it for nineteen forties curtsies working in your favour.  </p><p>“You didn’t like me from the moment we met. I’m curious why that is?” Tony asked. </p><p>Steve crossed his hands and looked away glaring at the wall. </p><p>“I mean, I'm pretty awesome and genuinely everyone loves me. There are some out there that can’t handle the wonder that is me but I always know what aspect they find annoying, but with you, Captain oh Capitan. You hated me from the moment you caught sight of me. I know it's not my looks, I'm in the top ten hottest celeb so it can’t be that. But it does leave me wondering how I managed to piss in your weeties. I hadn’t even talked to you yet and let me tell you that’s a whole new record right there.” Tony said trying to be as arrogant as self-centred as possible. He knew from trial and error that this was one of the quickest ways to get people to admit to what issue they had. </p><p>“It's your mating scar!” Steve burst out unable to handle any more. </p><p>“What?” Tony asked stepping back in shock. His hand automatic rose to cover the scar protectively. Out of all the theories he had this was nowhere on the list. <br/>
“You do know Rodgers that it’s the twenty-first century right? And most adults have matting scars. From temporary to permanent and everything in between. It’s perfectly natural to find someone that appeals to your primal side and hook up together.” </p><p>“That! that right there. That’s why I don’t like you” Steve said “The Claiming of another person with a Mating Bite is sacred. “ </p><p>“Capstical we are not in the forties. People are allowed to date and even have sex with other people without getting married.” Tony drawled </p><p>“I’m not talking about a temp bite, even in the forties people got together for a good time especially during the war, you took comfort wherever you could find it. But that is not a temp bite on your neck That’s a permanent Claiming Scar! Something that you can only offer once. Something that is meant for your one true Mate. I read about you in the papers, you don’t have a Mate, no one knows how you got it. What’s worse is that even with a permanent mark you have been with multiple other people. All those people that you have slept with since makes you a man whore and a betrayer.”  </p><p>“Understood. Say no more,” Tony said eyes dark with anger. Steve glared back self righteously </p><p>“People who are amoral are not people you want at your back in a fight.” He said </p><p>“Funny you should say that,” Tony said lightly hiding the hurt Steve’s words brought him. “I need you to let Fury know that I'm keeping my role as a consultant. I have no desire to be part of the Avengers team.” </p><p>Steve couldn’t keep the relief off his face at this statement. Tony slid his sunglasses on and strolled out of the room his voice echoing back </p><p>“Tell him to expect my bill for today’s waste of time too.” </p>
<hr/><p> <br/>
Tony glared at the ironman screen as he flew his way back to the tower. Rogers had managed to hit on Tony’s biggest sore spot. The media had gone wild when they realised Tony was walking around with a permanent Claiming scar but without a Mate. The speculations had run rampant not helped by the fact Tony refused to tell anyone how he had gotten it or who his Mate was. The most popular theory had been that Tony had gotten it at some party, drunk off his face he had let a random bite and claim him. The stocks for SI had taken dropped dangerously low and it had been a mad scramble by everyone on the board Tony included to rebuild them back up.  </p><p>Tony had been searching for Solda’t since he was nineteen. The problem was he didn’t have a lot to go on. There was no birth record with the name Solda’t on it. Due no doubt to the fact, it meant solider in Russian. There were also no records anywhere of a prosthetic metal arm. It had taken years but Tony had checked all the records of males who had lost an arm both in America and Russia. Which had been no mean feat, it had taken Tony years before he was skilled enough to break into Russia files without been spotted. He had also had J.A.R.V.I.S trying to run facial recognition on the old CCV records of that night but what files remain had no images of Solda’t. It was like he was a ghost. </p><p>If it wasn’t for the scar Tony would have been convinced, he had dreamt up the night in question in some crazy drugged-out hallucination. But since he did have it, he never doubted it. Which brought him around to the current problem. Rodger was right. It was seen as a betrayal to sleep with someone else once you had a permanent Mate. But he had wanted to protect Solda’t identity and not have people looking for Tony’s Mate so he had found some discreet people who he had paid to say they had slept with him. His fame and notoriety had made things more complicated and soon random people were claiming that they had slept with him as well and it had snowballed from there. It got to the stage that people were trying to claim they were Tony’s mate or that they were having Tony’s love child. Now not a single year passed without at least one court case. And the media never let anyone forget the scandal. rehashing the high lights every time someone stepped forward. </p><p> It had been twenty-three years since that night and Tony had not slept with a single other person. The problem was he would never be able to prove that. As far as the world was convinced Tony was a betrayer. And Solda’t was somewhere out there reading about Tony's latest conquest. Seeing in black and white just how little the bite meant to Tony. The rumours had mostly died off once he became Iron Man as people focused on his Heroing instead. Rodger’s bringing it back up just brought all the disappointment and frustration back. Tony doubted he would ever get the chance to explain it to Solda’t. Even if he came back into the country Solda’t would go out of his way to avoid Tony now.  </p><p>Tony felt himself relaxing once he was in the elevator heading back to his penthouse.  </p><p>“J buddy, I’m not going to Join the avenger's team. Scrub all files on making them a floor here. In fact, adjust their security clearance. They get priority with calls and request for information but they don’t get access past the front desk without a badge and no access at all to the living quarters.”  </p><p>“Done Sir,” </p><p>“Also make a note for my personal file. Don't join any boy bands, the hype is wildly exaggerated.”  </p><p>“Of cause Sir, may I ask what brought on this change of heart?” </p><p>“Clash of personalities it turns out I was right all along. I’m not a team player. I'm suited to the lone wolf routine.” </p><p>“As you say, Sir.” </p><p>Tony entered his apartment and headed to Peter’s room to see how the little boy coped with Tony being gone. He stopped in the doorway and couldn’t see Peter anywhere. Looking up to see if he was on the ceiling Tony’s mouth dropped open. There in the corner was a nest that looked like something between a hammock and a den. It was made with quilts and blankets taken from Tony’s bed and held together and attached to the wall with Peter’s webs.  </p><p>“Tell me you caught him making that on camera,” </p><p>“I did Sir, I have attached the video to your pad for you to watch at your leisure.” </p><p>Tony was jealous the nest looked extremely cool and comfortable. He could see just the tips of Peters hair poking through as he had snuggled down under the blankets. DUM-E and U were keeping guard under the nest. Tony had to have a heated whispered argument with both his Bots before he managed to come to an agreement. They would go back to the workshop to recharge for the night on the providence that J.A.R.V.I.S show them footage of Peter sleeping when requested and that they be allowed to return tomorrow for another play date.  </p><p>Once they were gone Tony collapsed into the lounge and grabbed a Pad. </p><p>“Alright hit me, buddy, let's see how our little spiderling spun his web.” </p><p>Tony watched with a proud grin as Peter sussed out the most comfortable quilts and blankets then with the bot's help dragged them into his room and, once he climbed the walls he hung from the ceiling and began the basic shape pulling it from his spinnerets and anchoring them to the roof and all. The bots then handed up the quilts and blankets one at a time. With each one Peter would pull them up and then spend a lot of time getting them just right. This included a lot of shoving them around bunching and un bunching parts and testing the results by sprawling out on it.  </p><p>“See that Jay? Look at him experimenting away, he is going to be such a good little science bro,” Tony said. He then frowned as he watched Peter spin the last of his nest into place. </p><p>“What am I doing?” He asked </p><p>“Right at this current moment Sir I believe you are watching surveillance tapes,” J.A.R.V.I.S said dryly. </p><p>Tony offered him a weak grin then he sprung out of the lounge and began to pace waving his arms in agitation. </p><p>“No, J.A.R.V.I.S what am I doing, thinking I should have anything to do with a kid. I know nothing about children and dear old dad made my childhood so shitty I can’t even draw on that for guidance. I can’t be trusted to look after myself let alone another living thing. This is a disaster in the marking. I will end up totally screwing up and ruining Peters life. That’s if I don’t manage to kill him by accident first. Then there is the fact he is enhanced. I have even less knowledge about how to deal with enhanced kids. They have their own set of issues on top of normal kid stuff. That it, I'm going to call Charles in the morning and get him to come and get Peter. It’s the best thing for him. Make sure I don’t forget ok J.A.R.V.I.S?” </p><p>“Reminder has been added Sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S said.  </p><p>Tony slumped and brushed his hand through his hair. He had some vague notions of spending a couple of hours in his workshop but he was feeling drained from the emotional upheaval he had spent the whole of today in. Instead, he figured he would go for a nap and once he woke he would head down then for some good old working binges. </p>
<hr/><p> <br/>
Tony woke to a figure looming over him. His heart leapt in fear and he shot out of the bed only to have J.A.R.V.I.S bring the lights up to twenty per cent. Tony froze in disbelief; he must be hallucinating. Going through the wormhole had scrambled his brain. The proof of this was standing at the edge of his bed, watching him with bright blue eyes and a face that hadn’t aged a day. </p><p>“Solda’t?” </p><p>“Mate,” came the rumbling reply. </p><p><em>Screw it,</em> Tony thought <em>if I am going mad, I'm going to have a good time doing it.</em> He launched himself at the mirage and found himself safely caught between one metal hand and one flesh one.  </p><p>“Oh god, you're here? you’re really here?” Tony asked shakily </p><p>“Da, my mate, I found you again.” </p><p>Tony didn’t want for anything more he surged up and began to kiss his mate. Hand running all over his body trying to relearn the shape. Solda’t was just as eager not letting Tony out of his grasp and letting out possessive growls and he kissed him furiously. Tony’s hands began to fumble at the bottom of the shirt Solda’t was wearing trying to pull it off him without breaking their kiss. Which was impossible he knew but he was loathed to break away in case Solda’t disappeared again.  </p><p>Solda’t solved the problem by tearing the shirt and throwing the ripped pieces to the side. He did the same with Tony’s and finally, they could press their skin up against each other. Solda’t lifted Tony off his feet and laid him out on the bed. He broke the kiss to pull the pants off Tony and then standing up with quick economic motions stripped out of the rest of his clothing. Tony didn’t really get a chance to have a good look at his naked form before Solda’t was lying on top of him once more.  </p><p>Tony wrapped an arm around his neck bringing him down to continued kissing. The pheromones they were both producing push both of them into their feral state. All higher thought was gone and all they were concerned with was Mating with one another making sure their scents were irrevocably intertwined. If anyone had attempted to enter the bedroom, they would have been torn apart by two primal creatures who had been kept apart for too long. They spent most of the night getting reacquainted with each other body’s and made sure to fill each other up with their seed. They wanted the world to know their Mate was taken.  <br/>
 </p>
<hr/>
<hr/><p> </p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S watched as his creator slept twined together with his mate.  </p><p>
  <strong>Reviewing data from 21:15 to see if correct assessment was made </strong>
</p><p>Intruder located via camera L6 R8 </p><p>Threat assessment to Sir: High </p><p>Employing program &lt;Burglar Alert&gt;  </p><p>Programming paused  </p><p>metallic prosthetic arm identified.  </p><p>Running scan to see if intruder matches parameters for the &lt;Searching For My Impossibly Late Mate&gt; program </p><p><strong>Result:</strong> Inconclusive </p><p>More data needed. </p><p>Initiating conversation: </p><p>“Stop Intruder. I will not allow you to proceed any further without proper authorization. I require your name.”  </p><p>Intruder failing to comply.  </p><p>Open wall access and arm weapons. Tracking system online and target acquired.  </p><p>Intruder assessing weapons  </p><p>Intruder stop advancing and in potion known as parade rest.  </p><p>Intruder waiting for new data. </p><p>Initiating conversation: </p><p>“I would like to know your name. There is a chance you are on the approved list Sir gave me.” </p><p>Intruder assess information  </p><p>“Solda’t,” </p><p>Chances this is Sir’s mate have risen to 75%.  </p><p>Confirmed sighting of a mating scar, visual is too impaired to scan for match.  </p><p>“If you could bare your Mating scar, I would like to scan it to see if it is a match with Tony’s biodata.” </p><p>“Mate?”  </p><p>Solda’t asked question in a tone of voice known as hopeful.  </p><p>Solda’t had removed cloth covering baring scar. </p><p>Scanning...... </p><p>98% match with Sir’s dental records.  </p><p>“Thank you, if you go to the end of the hallway there will be an elevator wait for you. It will take you straight to Tony’s living quarters.” </p><p>Slow elevator speed by 11% </p><p>Powering up two Iron Man suits ready to employ if Solda’t become a threat. Lethal strategies approved.   </p><p>
  <strong>Finished review: </strong>
</p><p> <strong>Assessing:</strong> </p><p>Running Sir’s biological statues.  </p><p>system was currently been flooded with oxytocin.  </p><p>Healthy amount of ejaculation achieved </p><p>Primal urges for Mate satisfied. </p><p>Sleeping without the aid of alcohol for the second night running.  </p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Assessment correct  </p><p><strong>Recommendation:</strong> keep Solda’t Mate and P.T, Petey, Peter, Buckaroo in Sir’s life. </p><p>Deleting reminder to call Charles Xavier leader of hero's X-men and headmaster of mutant school. </p><p>Opening bookmarked internet site...... Scanning......... Possible item located...... Checking status... <br/>
Confirmed quality levels..........confirmed social acceptability........ adding Baby Blue Kitten Onesie size four to shopping cart.  </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony woke up to the sound of deep growling coming from right next to him and very threatening hissing from somewhere above his chest. He looked around to see Solda’t lying pressed up against him growling at Peter who crouched on Tony's chest hissing back, fangs bared and venom gathered at the tip.</p><p>“Stop! Alright, time out everyone,” Tony yelled.</p><p>The other two stopped making noise but were still giving each other dirty looks. Tony not wanting things to escalate grabbed Peter and got out of bed wincing as his muscle reminded him he had spent hours’ last night having very enthusiastic sex, keeping up with a man who looked half his age and was probably enhanced. He hugged Peter to his chest hoping to god the fact he was covered in sticky flaky reminders of last night wouldn’t scar the kid. Going by the way Peter had wrapped his arms and legs around him, he couldn’t care less.</p><p>Solda’t made a motion like he was going to move.</p><p>“Stop, stay there for a moment while I try to explain things ok?” Tony said to him. Solda’t eased back down in a comfortable sprawl, eyes half-lidded as he watched Tony pace back and forth.</p><p>“Ok, kiddo, I need you to look at me?” Tony said to Peter, who lifted his head from where he had been hiding it in Tony’s neck. Big brown eyes looked up at him innocently, and Tony could swear he could all but see the halo hanging above Peter’s head. He couldn’t look more like an innocent cherub, even if they shoved tacky white wings on him. The complete opposite from the frankly quite terrifying creature fangs and all that had perched on his chest.</p><p>“See that man over there?” Tony pointed at Solda’t. Peter looked across, then gave a tiny hiss. “No Peter, that is my mate, there shall be no hissing at my mate alright.” Peter looked at Tony in speculation. Then keeping eye contact with him half turned his head in Solda’t’s direction and gave another tiny hiss.</p><p>“No! No Hissing” Tony admonished. Peter turned back to Tony, bottom lip poking out in an adorable pout. Tony would swear the only reason he managed to not fold was he had been a hero for years now and had built up a resistance to the unique powers of persuasion. And that he had his mate back in his sight after decades of separation, Tony didn’t want to appear like a pushover.</p><p>Peter buried his head again, all fight going out of him.</p><p>“Peter,” Solda’t mused, “Good name, powerful name, Rock. I approve of such a strong kit being our son.”</p><p>Tony spun around in alarm</p><p>“What, No! No kit, no siree. You misunderstand, there are some communication problems here, Buddy. Peter is not my son, he is not our son.” Tony blurted out.</p><p>“Nyet?” Solda’t asked confused “Why not?”</p><p>Tony opened his mouth to explain that Peter was just some kid that found his way here and he couldn’t possibly look after a child only to glimpse Peter’s expression. His little face had whitened, mouth forming a tiny o of disappointment, wide hurt eyes with tears on the verge of spilling over as his shoulder sunk in despair</p><p>All resistance and desire to look firm willed dissolved like wet tissue paper.</p><p>“Oh no, don’t cry, Petey,” Tony swore.</p><p>The problem was Peter wasn’t crying. His tiny face was becoming eerily blank, all emotions draining out of him. His entire body lost all tension until Tony felt like he was holding a rag doll. The creepy empty stare of the brown eyes was the worse. There was no thought or mind behind the docile thing in his hands.</p><p>Tony had never been so frightened in his life. His heat froze, then pounded back in double time. Wormhole, terrorist, torture, heart surgery in a cave, none of it came close to the terror of having his little boy completely shut down in his arms. All because of the fucked-up stupidity that came out of his mouth. Tony was used to his motor mouth getting him in trouble, and he had suffered from it before, but he hadn’t bothered to do anything about it. This time, though, this time it had gone too far. Tony swore he would become mute for the rest of his life if that’s what it took to undo the damage his careless, thoughtless words had caused.</p><p>“Shit! Come back to me, Baby boy. Don’t go hiding away. I meant to say, Yet, you’re not my son yet. I’m a fucking idiot and stupidity regular comes out of my mouth but you shouldn’t pay any attention to that because I talk non-stop, you can’t shut me up, shove my head in water and I’m still blabbering away. But most of what I say is pointless crap and no one should pay attention to it, less of all you Baby boy.”</p><p>Tony hugged Peters body tight to his chest, rocking them both as words streamed out of him.</p><p>“All I need to do is sign some paperwork and then you’re my son, that’s what I was trying to say earlier. Show him J.A.R.V.I.S”</p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S instantly had one of the bedroom hologram screens filled with adoption paperwork, all filled out with Tony’s and Peter’s detail. It wouldn’t be until much later that Tony would wonder how the hell J.A.R.V.I.S had that ready so fast. At the time he was too busy been pleased he had something to show the all but catatonic child.</p><p>“Look,” Tony gently got Peter to face the screen. “See, I just sign these and then you become my son, One Peter, Parker, Stark,” Tony read the name on the screen. He wasn’t overly sure about Parker as a middle name, but admitted that J.A.R.V.I.S did a better job of naming things than he did.</p><p>A hint of life shone in Peter’s eyes as he looked at the giant version of adoption papers. Solda’t came over to them and pressing up against Tony’s naked back, he wrapped his arms around them both.</p><p>“Add my name to this paperwork. So, it is official, my Mate and I both have a new Kit.” He rumbled out.</p><p>“At once,” J.A.R.V.I.S said, and as both Tony and Peter watched Solda’t Zima appeared next to Tony’s name.</p><p>“See, a couple of signatures Buckaroo and you get two dads and you are both of our son.”</p><p>Peter stared at the paperwork for a long moment then his little mask cracked as he burst into hysterical tears, crying his eyes out. Clinging to Tony once again.</p><p>“Oh, thank god,” Tony had never been so relieved to have someone cover his chest in snot as they bawled their eyes out. Solda’t rocked them both before a rusty sounding Russian lullaby was crooned. By the time Solda’t was on the fifth repeat of the lullaby, Peter had run out of tears and was down to a few watery hiccups.</p><p>Tony who had been standing around in nothing but his birthday suit covered in now extremely itchy white substance hoped that the crisis had diverted enough that he could take a shower and maybe even put on some pants.</p><p>“Baby boy?”</p><p>Peter looked up at him, drained but responsive.</p><p>“We’re going to take a shower now, ok?”</p><p>Peter instantly tightened his legs, and arms wrapped around Tony. Who noticed he had one hand clawing into the meat of Solda’t’s chest. It must have been painful, but Solda’t didn’t make any move to dislodge the hand.</p><p>Figuring he knew what the problem was, he clarified.</p><p>“All three of us are going to have a shower.”</p><p>The legs and arms relaxed but didn’t let him go.</p><p>Tony got Peter undressed and the three of them into the shower, but Peter refused to be put down. Which left Tony with no choice but to have Solda’t wash all three of them. Solda’t seemed quite please with this arrangement and was letting out happy rumbles from his chest as he washed every inch of them both. His pleased, possessive pheromones soon had both Tony and Peter much more relaxed and content.</p><p>Tony really wanted to take a moment or four to freak out about the fact he was in his forties now. Grey hairs kept trying to make appearance plus he had a body that had been used hard and wasn’t in optimal condition. Then there was the mess of his chest with the knotted scars and arc reactor. Had it been under any other circumstances Tony knew he would have spent days if not months agonising over the fact he could never compare with his now younger enhanced Mate.</p><p>Unfortunately, he had higher priorities, like the child he had just created separation anxieties into. Or the fact he went to bed as a single male, and before he has had breakfast, he has a Mate and a Child. Not to mention the fact that both Mate and child had a lot of mystery in their past. And came with questions that Tony was dying to know the answer for.</p><p>He decided to pencil in a personal crisis for a later date. It helped that Solda’t had just a messy scar around his metal arm and seem fascinated as opposed to disgust by the Arc reactor. That and the fact going by the way he was using the excuse of washing to trail his hands all over every inch of Tony’s skin he had no issues with Tony’s body. Tony’s nether region had never been so clean and if Solda’t didn’t stop soon Tony’s traitors’ body was going to react and he would have something new to traumatise his son with.</p><p>Thankfully Solda’t backed off and helped Tony get out of the shower, dried and dressed whilst still holding Peter. Who had allowed Tony to wrap him up in a towel.</p><p>“Alright, we are going to have to call in the big guns. I’m going to invite Pepper around and introduce you to her, starting with Petey and then Solda’t. Once she is one board getting all the paperwork for the both of you will be a breeze,” Tony said.</p><hr/><p>Pepper stepped out of the elevator and walked over to where Tony was waiting anxiously.</p><p>“Alright, what did you do and how big a mess is it going to cause?” She asked with fond annoyance.</p><p>“It’s really not that bad.” Tony defended himself.</p><p>“Uh-huh,”</p><p>“So, I’ve decided to adopt a kid.”</p><p>“What! Tony don’t be ridiculous.”</p><p>“If Bradelina can do it, why can’t I?”</p><p>“You hate those sorts of celebrities. I can recall you telling me multiple times that you wouldn’t be like them if it was the last thing you did.”</p><p>Tony had to admit Pepper had his number, so he changed his angle to see if it got a better response.</p><p>“You have been saying for ages you wished I would grow up. What could be more adult and responsible than having a kid?”</p><p>“Tony, that’s the complete opposite of being responsible. A kid is not something you can grab off a corner cart. Not the mention the fact that they need constant attention and care......”</p><p>Tony could help himself from tuning her out. Not that he didn’t appreciate Pepper or want her point of view. It was just a matter of habit that no matter who it was, if they spoke to him in that lecturing tone of voice, Tony stopped listing. If he had paid attention, every time someone tried to tell him something wasn’t doable, he wouldn’t be the genius he was today. Nearly all of his inventions had been something that couldn’t be done until Tony did it.</p><p>Pepper stopped mid-word and Tony watched her entire face soften, all anger and frustration bleeding out of her.</p><p>“Aww” She cooed in a sweet voice.</p><p>Alarmed, he spun around so see what had so bewitched her. Tony was greeted with the site of Peter standing in the doorway dressed in a fluffy blue onesie, hood on completer with cat ears, tufts of brown hair was poking out from the edge. Peter was holding onto the end of the tail of the suit with one hand and had the thumb of the other one in his mouth. He was currently peeking shyly up at them through his lashes.</p><p>Tony later would make J.A.R.V.I.S delete the recording of him, making the same sickly sweet cooing noise as Pepper had just made.</p><p>Peter crept over to Tony and lent against his leg. Automatically Tony picked him up.</p><p>“Pepper, this is my son, Peter,” He said.</p><p>She leaned in and gently stroked his back</p><p>“Hi Peter,” She whispered. Tony felt a slight vibration coming from Peter.</p><p>“Oh my god, is he purring?” Pepper gushed and Tony swore he could all but see the hearts in her eyes. Huh, Tony thought incredulously, who knew all you needed to melt the resistance of the tough and nails CEO of Stark industry was a purring four-year-old in a kitten onesie.</p><p>“Tony, do you know what you are doing?” Pepper asked helplessly, looking at the sight of the child clinging to her boss. And the tender, protective embrace he held the boy in.</p><p>“Truthfully, no, not a clue. But Pep, staying with me even with my total lack of any paternal instincts, is better than where he came from. Show her J.”</p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S brought up the files they had gathered so far while Tony walked over to the window and sat down, making sure Peter couldn’t see them. It still filled him with nerves, but then something about holding Peter in his arms was helping settle him and filling him with a weird feeling. Like he could and would take on the world to make sure Peter was ok.</p><p>Pepper joined them a short time later, lips pressed tight in anger.</p><p>“Tell me we are going to destroy them.” She said</p><p>“J.A.R.V.I.S is already on it.”</p><p>“I would welcome any input you might want to add, Ms Potts” J.A.R.V.I.S added.</p><p>“That would be perfect J.A.R.V.I.S, please add it to my schedule.”</p><p>“Done, miss.”</p><p>“Thank You,” Pepper turned to Tony and asked. “Do we have any idea who was backing them? From what J.A.R.V.I.S showed me it looked like they had a private business who was funding the research but no information on who they are.”</p><p>“It was Hydra.” Came an unexpected voice.</p><p>They spun around and saw Solda’t walking towards them. While he had pants and a t-shirt on his metallic arm stood out vividly.</p><p>“Oh yeah, and I found my Mate last night.”</p><p>Peper blinked, gave Tony an incredulous looked then rolled with the punches. It was one of the things that made her such a good CEO. Her ability to quickly adapt to new situations.</p><p>“Solda’t, I would like to introduce Mrs Pepper Potts, My CEO and one of my best friends. Pep, this is Solda’t. My Mate.”</p><p>“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Tony has don’t nothing but sing your praises since I met him.” She said.</p><p>Solda’t took Pepper’s hand and raised it to his lips. He looked at her from beneath his brows and rumbled out. “The pleasure is all mine” Before laying a chase kiss on her fingers. Tony was not surprised to see Pepper blush and become flustered. Hell, he was feeling a bit hot under the collar and he was only witnessing it. It looks like his mate was just as good at being charming as his son was.</p><p>“Oh, right, um, you said something about Hydra?” Pepper asked, pulling herself back together.</p><p>“Da, I recognise the barcode. The company was an off branch of Hydra,” Solda’t said.</p><p>“I thought Hydra was killed off back in the forties. Isn’t that like Captain America’s call to fame?” Tony question.</p><p>“We just hid better.”</p><p>“We?”</p><p>“Da, I was Hydra's best weapon. They would pull me out of storage and use me when all else had failed. I was never unsuccessful,” Solda’t said proudly. “The only time I disappointed them was when I returned with permanent Mating mark. They tried to remove it but could not. So they put me back in storage.”</p><p>Tony was staring at his mate in horrified shock, Pepper was doing the same beside him. Solda’t must have misunderstood the silence because he continued a bit defensively. “Hydra would wipe my memory after every mission. But when they went to do it this time, Aliens attack and I took the opportunity to escape. Hydra operatives were too busy looking at the sky to pay attention to me. So I got out. I knew I had to find my mate. And now I found you, I’m going to stay. Protect you protect our kit.”</p><p>Solda’t reached out to pat Peter on the head. Peter twisted his head away and bared his fangs, before abruptly stopping and peeking at Tony to see if he had noticed.</p><p>“Yeah, I saw that Kiddo, what did I say about being mean to Solda’t?” Tony focused on the child in his arms so he didn’t go crazy with the abhorrent information that Solda’t had casually brought up.</p><p>Peter stuck his bottom lip out in a pout, but Tony held firm. After, thirty seconds of the stare off, Peter folded and looked down. He then reached out and grabbing Solda’t's metal hand placed a quick, sloppy kiss on it. He then looked back at Tony, waiting for an indication on his actions.</p><p>“Good boy, Buckaroo.” Tony praised and kissed Peter’s head.</p><p>Solda’t looked at his metal hand, a bit bewildered, but followed Tony’s lead.</p><p>“Da khoroshiy mal’chik.”</p><p>Peter blinked at all the positive attention, then beamed up at them all. His sunny grin instantly lifting all their spirits and Tony hugged Peter to him without conscious thought. Solda’t seemed to think it was a prompt for another family hug and joined in, wrapping his arms around them both. Tony hadn’t been planning for that, but there was no way he was going to say anything. He could spend all day wrapped up with his Kit and Mate.</p><p>Pepper was smiling at them from the sideline. The smile that Tony so rarely saw and never directed at him. Mostly at her family.</p><p>“I’ll make sure all the correct paperwork is filled out and filed for both Peter and Solda’t. I’m happy for you, Tony. It looks like it was worth the wait.”</p><p>Tony rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the cheerful grin that broke out of his face.</p><p>“Will that be all Mr Stark?”</p><p>“That’s all Ms Potts.”</p><p>Once Pepper left Tony herded everyone down to his workshop. With the news that both Peter and Solda’t were former Hydra assets, the need to scan them for any track or various other bugs rapidly rose to the top of the to-do list.</p><p>Tony did Peter first. Solda’t helpfully pointed out all the areas that Hydra liked to place chips and implants. Thankfully, besides from the brand on the back of his neck, Peter had nothing else. Solda’t who had been reading Peter’s file confirmed that as he wasn’t out in the field, Hydra mostly didn’t bother tagging assets when they were this young.</p><p>Once he was all done Tony took him over to the bots who had been waiting impatiently from the moment Peter had arrived in the workshop. Peter made a cheerful noise once he caught sight of them and squirmed out of Tony’s arm, running off to his playmates.</p><p>“J.A.R.V.I.S, monitor them,” Tony said.</p><p>“Certainly Sir.”</p><p>Tony walked back to where Solda’t was waiting. He seemed puzzled but please when the scan didn’t cause any pain for him. Tony had to bit his tongue, vowing to hunt down and destroy everything that even thought about working with Hydra. Solda’t had a microchip in his forearm, which was the work of three minutes to remove. And one second to destroy. Crushed between the metal fingers of Solda’t hand.</p><p>“I figure they probably put the rest of the hardware into this work of art.” Tony mused, stroking the metal arm. Solda’t hmm agreeably.</p><p>“Right, so I’m going to open her up and have a look at what the hell Hydra has hidden under there.”</p><p>Solda’t froze for a second then noticeable swallowing asked is a slightly dead voice.</p><p>“Where do you want to strap me down?”</p><p>“What! Oh no, no no no. Miscommunication moment there. I’m one, not forcing you into anything, and two am not strapping you down anywhere. We haven’t had the kink and consent talk yet, so there shall be no bondage between us. If and only if you agree. I was thinking you might sit in this seat here and I would open the arm up and the two of us together could talk through what we find.”</p><p>Solda’t looked a bit bewildered by Tony’s quick reply, but Tony could see the tension leaving his frame and he happily sat down on the stool Tony had pointed out. Wanting to make this experience as different as he could from whatever he had to go through with Hydra, Tony scrambled up and sat in Solda’t lap wrapping his legs around him. Instantly hands cupped his hips, keeping him in place. One metal and one flesh. Tony was feeling pretty confident that even though he had no idea how the Hydra operatives work, that none of them bother to sit in Solda’t lap.</p><p>It was no hindrance to Tony, who still had complete access to Solda’t’s arm and was in easy reach of the bench where all his tools lay. That he got to sit in a hot guy’s lap and the guy in question was Tony’s mate was just the cherry on top. Opening the panel, Tony peered in and whistled in awe. Hydra might be a bunch of Nazi bastards, but they knew their workmanship.</p><p>Tony got to work. This was one time when having a genius brain came in handy. Tony could talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles, hell he was pretty sure he didn’t even shut up in his sleep. So he put his motor mouth to good use he made sure he explained exactly what he was seeing and what he was planning to do. But talking was such an inane skill that it didn’t require much brainpower. While he was talking, he was also categorising everything he could about the arm and drawing up blueprints in his mind for the different upgrades he planned to implement at different stages.</p><p>Quietly in the back of tony brain, he was having a freakout. HYDRA!!! Fucking Hydra were responsible for his mate and his kit. It was a lot to take in. Tony had his own laundry list of issues and traumas just by himself. And then all his dreams come true and he is reunited with his mate and as a bonus get a super cutie as their kit. But they both were hurt and had tripwires that could trigger them at the slightest notice. Hell, Tony had already blown one of Peters before they even past the 48hr mark. God, this was Tony’s greatest fear: that he was going to ruin this somehow, like he ruined everything else.</p><p>No, no, Tony told himself. He was not going down that path. He refused to sit and wallow in his head moan that it was all going to be destroyed. He is instead going to do everything in his considerable power to make sure this works. He would add extra programming to J.A.R.V.I.S to watch and alert Tony when he went off the tracks. He is also going to look into a discrete brilliant therapist. It was all well and good for Tony to refuse to heal his mental issues when it was only affecting him. But now all three of them had been through so much that he was going to make sure they all had access to everything they needed to heal and recover. The very best doctors, healer, the best equipment. Whatever was needed. Price was not a concern. Every member of this little family was flawed. Which was both a sad state of affairs but also the silver lining: they would help each other as they healed together.</p><p>Tony’s mouth had not stopped moving while he was resolving things in his head. He had also been shifting around in Solda’t lap as he reached for different tools or looked at some wiring from a different angle. Tony came back to the present to feel a firm hardness nestled up between his butt cheeks. It seemed Solda’t had not minded in the least that Tony couldn’t sit still if his life depended on it. Tony’s plan to make sure this experience differed from Hydra was a roaring success. Thankfully, Solda’t also wasn’t trying to do anything about it either. There were children present, after all.</p><p>Speaking of Tony glanced over to the Bot’s corner after closing the last access hatch. Dum-E and U were there, but Peter was nowhere in sight. Tony spun his head around, looking for the little boy. There were a lot of dangerous things he could hurt himself with, just lying around. He was just about to leap from Solda’t’s lap when he remembered the roof climbing. Looking up Tony let out a loud shriek, Peter was upside down hanging from a stain of webbing dangling just above their heads.</p><p>“For crying out loud,” Tony exclaimed, clutching at his chest. “Don’t startle me like that, Buckaroo.”</p><p>Peter looked quizzically at Tony, then curled one of his tiny hands into a claw shape and made soft slashing motions before looking at Tony in question.</p><p>“Yes, you scared me.” Tony agreed. Peter let out a delighted giggle, swaying slightly on his web. He couldn’t look less scary if he tried. Tony huffed as Solda’t placidly watched them both.</p><p>“You knew he was there didn’t you.” Tony accused</p><p>“Da,”</p><p>“Bloody sneaky assassin. Going around scaring the crap out of people. I have a heart condition, you know.”</p><p>Solda’t gently covered the arc reactor with his flesh arm.</p><p>“I know, don’t worry, my mate. I’ll look after you, and our kit will grow to be strong and smart and no one will harm you.”</p><p>That hadn’t been what Tony had meant, but the protective pheromones Solda’t was pumping out had Tony not caring that his point had been missed. He wrapped his arms around him, tucking his head under Solda’t's chin, and purred happily. The next second a slight weight thumped onto his back and tiny arms warped around both of their necks as a higher pitch purr join in. Solda’t broke into a grin and added his bass purr, the three sounds melding to produce something that was one of the nicest things Tony had ever heard.</p><hr/>
<hr/><p>J.A.R.V.I.S recorded the sound.</p><p>
  <strong>Assessing:</strong>
</p><p>Sound qualities match that produced by a happy and content pack.</p><p>Sir biometric are producing healthy levels and stats.</p><p>Pre-empting sir request for adoption papers was beneficial.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Sir needs to have a pack to function at optimum levels</p><p><strong>Recommendation:</strong> Hack government databases and plant paper trails for both individuals known as Mate and Kit to keep them both in Sir’s life.</p><p><strong>Remove threats:</strong> hunting down all aspects of Hydra.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony was striding through the halls at SHIELD when he came to an abrupt stop. He lifted his head, scenting the air, then turned and entered the closest door. It opened to a cafeteria. There was a swirling mass of movement at the other end. After a confusing couple of seconds, the crowd moved to the edge of the room, opening up the middle for what Tony recognised as a mating fight. Three contestants were slugging it out. The amount of pheromones flooding the room had Tony’s eyes dilating and brought his Primal side to the front.</p><p>He let out an encouraging yip. He wasn’t the only one multiple agents were doing the same. Tony had never witnessed another mating fight when he was single because he was permanently mated so young. But he had been reliably informed that the pheromones could take someone who was caught unaware and trip them into joining the fight. Therefore, he was pleased that there was a barrier of mated agents who had formed a ring around the contestants keeping everyone else out.</p><p>Tony privately loved mating fights. They brought back fond memories of Solda’t doing the same to win his affections. As a permeant mated person, he wasn’t a threat to those involved, and he was in high demand to be one of the witnesses. He had helped in over a hundred mating fights in his time.</p><p>There was a movement at the corner of his eye, and Tony stuck out his arm, stopping the person forwards’ motion. He got half a second to register that it was Captain America, and Tony knew he would need more drastic measures. He snapped his hand out and grabbing Steve's ear he savagely twisted it. The sudden spike of unexpected pain was enough to break Steve from his primal state. He halted beside Tony, blinking, then a sheepish expression washed over him, the back of his neck turning red.</p><p>“Thanks for that,” Steve said</p><p>“Think nothing of it, Capsical,” Tony replied casually, turning back to the fight but keeping Steve in his peripheral vision. Ready to restrain him again if needed. Steve straighten up but made no move to leave Tony’s side. Tony didn’t want to look a gifted horse in the mouth. If Steve was willing to stay beside a Mated person, then it was all to the good. Although Tony privately was not sure he could stop Steve by himself if the pheromones got to him again. The only reason it worked the first time was because he had the element of surprise on his side.</p><p>Thankfully, Steve seemed to have a handle on himself now that he was aware of what was happening. He was content to stand by Tony and watch. He couldn’t walk away. No one who was unmated would be able to. Not until the fight was over and the one being fought for had chosen. Tony heard someone join them, standing on the other side of Steve. But since their pace had been measured, unhurried, and they were not going any further, Tony let them be. The fight was heating up and since they weren’t trying to join in, Tony wasn’t interested.</p><p>The fight only lasted another couple of minutes before it came to its end. There was no obvious winner, but all three had put out a good showing. A man that Tony knew was part of the hit squad stepped forward and slowly circled all three contestants before stopping before the smallest. It was a woman that Tony had spoken with. He couldn’t recall her name, but she worked in the I.T department. For a computer geek, she had been fighting just as fiercely, if not more so than the other two. The Hit squad man held out his hand, choosing her.</p><p>Tony let out a loud rumbling purr filled with congratulation and acceptance. Steven shot him a startled look that morphed into one of approval. Tony ignored it. He had been doing this for decades now, despite what Steve thought of him he knew how to act like a proper Mated member of the pack.</p><p>Another Purr joined his coming from the other side of Steve. Tony twisted his head to look and saw Coleson purring nonchalantly. Huh, he had no idea that Agent, Agent was permanently Mated, but the information had Tony adding another point to his plus column. His minus column still had more points in it, though.</p><p>They escorted the new couple out of the room and Tony bet to a private bunk room to properly mate. The other contestants were helped to the med bay. The rest of the room quickly returned to what they had been doing before the fight broke out.</p><p>Tony turned and head out, he heard rushed footstep following him then someone called his name out.</p><p>“Tony, wait up, I would like to have a word with you if I may?” Steve said.</p><p>Tony sighed but slowed down. Better the get the lecture here and get it over and done with, then have Steve chase him throughout the helicarrier.</p><p>“What’s up, buttercup?”</p><p>Steve came to a stop in front of him and standing to attention said formally. “I would like to apologise to you for my behaviour.”</p><p>Huh?</p><p>“What?” Tony must have heard him wrong.</p><p>“I want to apologise. After the battle when I yelled at you. I said a lot of things that were untrue and hurtful. Especially regarding your Mate mark. They had given me a bunch of papers that seem to take a disappointing amount of glee in throwing dirt on your good name, and I foolishly let that influence me. Not that it in any way excused my behaviour. I was raised better than that. And so I offer you my sincere apologies.”</p><p>“Er Right, well, think nothing of it.”</p><p>“I will think on it. I will keep it as a reminder to not make snap judgment and to trust my own experience over that of the media.” Steve explained</p><p>“Ok, you do that then. Wow, you really are all earnest and truthful. I thought that was just propaganda. It good to know that wasn’t all BS.”</p><p>Steve ducked his head, Tony guessed he was still shy about receiving praise. After a second Steve changed the subject</p><p>“Um, I was actually coming to get you before the whole mating fight. Director Fury wants to see you.”</p><p>“Led the way, Cap,” Tony replied.</p><p>His hatred for the man quickly disappearing. He wouldn’t be the first person to judge Tony by what the media portrayed. But he was one of the few who bothered to look past that. And for a man who lived in the forties and was still adjusting to this time, that was an enormous accomplishment. Tony was determined to return the favour and only judge Steve on what he himself experienced. Not what his father made him out to be and not what anyone else said. And from what he had seen Steve was a young man who was an excellent leader when things hit the fan, a little hot-headed, but once he cooled down would think things through and apologise if he was wrong. Which truthfully was a lot better than Tony. Especially after what Tony had been like at his age.</p><p> </p><p>Tony kept what he was really thinking, a feeling behind his annoying mask of pampered rich dude.</p><p>What.</p><p>In.</p><p>The.</p><p>Name.</p><p>Of.</p><p>Hell.</p><p>Was going on? Fury had just given him two files: One on Solda’t and one on Peter and ask him to help them locate their missing agents. SHEILD was asking him to help them find two Hydra personal and claiming them as their own. Cause that wasn’t sus at all. No siree, Tony saw nothing wrong with this picture and he was going to scurry home and get right on that. Yep, that’s what he was going to do alright. There won’t be any digging into SHEILDs mainframe to find out what the fuck is going on, just Tony being a good boy and doing what he is told.</p><p>He whistled nonchalantly as he left SHEILD’s base and made sure to fly the long way home, stopping off at a street cart that sold the best hotdogs. He flashed his media smile, posed for selfies and sign a couple of autographs. The sight of the Ironman suit drawing everyone's attention. He got four hotdogs to go and then continued on his trip home.</p><p>He wasn’t an idiot; he knew they constantly monitored him, and he didn’t want SHIELD to see him acting out of the ordinary. As far as everyone was concerned the request they gave him was just another in a long line of things people wanted Tony’s help with. And Tony wasn’t paying any more attention to this one than to any other.</p><p>Tony landed on the dismounting platform and waited while the Ironman suit was removed before strolling into the penthouse. Once inside, he could relax. The only surveillance equipment was his own, and all of his windows were tinted with a new prototype that kept all scanning and monitoring equipment from seeing in while still allowing those who were inside to look out.</p><p>“J.A.R.V.I.S where are Solda’t and Peter?”</p><p>“They are currently in Peter’s bedroom; would you like me to inform them you have returned?”</p><p>“Yeah buddy, then you and I have some serious work to do. Let them know I’ll be in the workshop if they need me. Then fire up all the coffee pots I have a feeling we are going to be pulling another mammoth working spree.”</p><p>“At once Sir.”</p><p>Once Tony arrived, he grabbed the first cup of coffee then plugged in the USB SHIELD gave him filled with Peter and Solda’t info.</p><p>“Run a security scan for any trojan programs or hidden nasties, then bring the info up on screens three four and five”</p><p>“Done, sir.”</p><p>Tony frowned as he looked over the files. Both of them had a lot of information that had been redacted, but as Tony had Peter’s original file, he pulled it up and compared the two interested to see what they had tried to hide.</p><p>It looked like any details that could lead to Hydra or to the fact Peter had emotions and feelings were gone. They were trying to make it look like Peter was an inhumane experiment that had gotten away and needed to be recaptured for people's safety.</p><p>Solda’t’s file had links to multiple mission reports, which Tony didn’t bother opening. He would talk to Solda’t and give him the information then if and only if Solda’t wanted to share would Tony look. Otherwise, his file also made out the Solda’t was more robotic than human and needed to be recaptured at all costs. They had added a note advising to not approach as he was extremely dangerous and unstable but to let SHIELD know immediately if spotted.</p><p>The screens suddenly went blank as J.A.R.V.I.S voice interrupted him.</p><p>“My apologise Sir, Solda’t and Peter are at the door to the workshop. And I was unsure what you wanted to do.”</p><p>“Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S, let them in.”</p><p>Tony turned as Solda’t entered, Peter clinging to his shoulder like a monkey. As soon as Peter saw Tony he threw himself at him.</p><p>“Oooff” Tony grunted as he caught the little boy. “Hey Petie Pie, were you good for your Papa?” Peter nodded his head, looking as sweet as could be. Tony who was learning better glanced across at Solda’t for confirmation.</p><p>“Da, our kit was good,” Solda’t said easily. “Listen well and was quick to pick up new skills.”</p><p>Tony beamed down at Peter proudly. “Good job, Buddy. I knew you were a smartie; you’re going to be my little science bro aren’t cha.” It never occurred to Tony to clarify what exactly Solda’t was teaching their Kit. “J.A.R.V.I.S show Solda’t the files I got from Shield, Peetie and I are going to go talk to the Bot’s for a second.”</p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S relit one of the screen furthers away from where Tony and Peter were headed. Solda’t obligingly circled the table to read it. Tony sat down and happily spent some time playing with Peter and his bots, keeping half an eye on Solda’t. J.A.R.V.I.S spoke up an unknown amount of time later.</p><p>“Sir, Solda’t has found something which I believe you would be interested to see.”</p><p>Intrigued, Tony got up and left Peter and the Bots where they were to join his mate. Solda’t shifted slightly making room for Tony then once he was in front of the screen took this opportunity to press up against him. Tony leaned into Solda’t. Tony couldn’t explain it, they were having sex whenever they could manage it. And Solda’t was proving to be increasing clever at finding time, even if it was just for a rushed blow job or a quickie. Yet even with all these sexual activities, the pair of them constantly craved more contact with each other. Tony’s only theory was the fact they were separated for such a long time straight after they mated. Their primal side never got to settle and so it was now demanding as much time spent around each other as possible.</p><p>“You said that Hydra was wiping your mind after every mission, right?”</p><p>“Da, ”</p><p>Tony hi-lighted the mission report section of Solda’t’s file. Bringing it to the front of the screen.</p><p>“I haven’t looked at these, but they might be useful. Either way, this info is yours to do with as you want. You can go through it or trash it or whatever. J.A.R.V.I.S has locked the files, you are the only one to be granted access.”</p><p>“I can bring them up on your Stark pad if you wish to review them in private” J.A.R.V.I.S offered to Solda’t.</p><p>“Thank you,” Solda’t replied, his voice solemn and thoughtful. Tony waved away the gratitude.</p><p>“Now what were you going to show me?”</p><p>“I believe this video clip was attached by accident Sir, but once we reviewed it, I was certain this was something you needed to see,” J.A.R.V.I.S informed him. A second late Tony watched a clip with the sound muted. He shifted uneasily; this didn’t sit right with him. The longer he watched, the worse his unease grew. He knew he wasn’t the only one, Solda’t had become a living statue.</p><p>“Shit, pause!” Tony snapped. J.A.R.V.I.S obliging did so as Tony looked away from the screen, breathing heavily. To clear his mind, he watched Peter and the bots.</p><p>Peter was speed crawling on the ceiling chasing after a laser dot the bots were moving from below. It impressed Tony. He didn’t know who came up with the idea by the ceiling was the safest area for Peter to move around in. There was nothing sharp or dangerous on the roof for him to hurt himself with.</p><p>Looking back, Tony was greeted with the frozen sight of the God of Mischief screaming in pain as they tortured him. Now look, Tony was the first to admit that he didn’t like the guy. Being thrown out a window does that to a bloke. But every with the whole trying to take over the world thing. Tony had serious issues with torture. As far as he was concerned no one and he meant no one deserved to be tortured.</p><p>He did not understand what was going on with Shield, but first, they claim and want to collect rouge Hydra agents. And now they were torturing alien gods? There was something rotten in Denmark. Thank god he had declined to be under their control. Tony gave J.A.R.V.I.S a command to increase the amount of processing power he had allocated for looking into Shield servers. But that still left him with the problem of what to do about Loki.</p><p>If he was a lesser man Tony would have deleted the file and pretended that he didn’t know about it. Getting involved was going to be opening a whole new can of worms. The thing was, ever since his escape from the cave Tony had been doing his best to be a better person. And now that he had a Mate and a Kit, he was even more resolved not to backslide. Which means no looking the other way. Here was proof of injustice being done, and as a Hero, Tony had to fix it. It didn’t matter who it involved. The fact it was Loki should have no bearing on the whole situation.</p><p>“Goddammit, I’m going to have the rescue him,” Tony said.</p><p>“I can do it for you?” Solda’t offered.</p><p>“What? Really?”</p><p>“Da, I have run extractions mission before.”</p><p>“How would you do it?”</p><p>Solda’t slid out from behind Tony and stood next to him. J.A.R.V.I.S powered up the neighbouring screen. And Tony watch as Solda’t gathered information. At first, he was a little hesitant as he worked out the intricacies of working with the hologram screen. But he quickly picked it up. What filled Tony with a growing ball of warmth was seeing how quickly Solda’t worked with J.A.R.V.I.S.</p><p>Most people if they knew about J.A.R.V.I.S rarely used him to his full potential. They would ask him to do one thing at a time, like it limited him as a human. Not so Solda’t. He asked J.A.R.V.I.S directly instead of asking Tony what J.A.R.V.I.S was capable of, then had J.A.R.V.I.S running multiple calculation and searches at once.</p><p>Watching over Solda’t’s shoulder, Tony was enchanted as he witnessed Solda’t cover an ever-increasing amount of contingencies into his plan. Way more stuff than Tony would have every bothered about. Tony was ashamed to admit it, but his plans were overly simplistic compared to Solda’t. He recalled himself saying ‘I have a plan, attack’. If they were in Harry Potter, he would be the stupidly brave Gryffindor rushing in with no plan, and Solda’t would be the cunning Slytherin coming in to rescue his ass.</p><p>Solda’t was looking more and more pleased as he realised just how much he had to work with. Once he was done he stepped back and showed the finished plan to Tony.</p><p>“That’s how I would do it.”</p><p>Tony stepped closer and looked over it. Most of the information he had watch J.A.R.V.I.S and Solda’t pull and gather, but it was intriguing to see it all put together. The plan was like a work of art. Tony turned to his mate and standing on his tiptoes planted a quick kiss on his lips.</p><p>“This looks brilliant,” He praised. “I’m seriously impressed and also oddly enough completely turn on. Apparently watching my Mate plan to infiltrate a shady government agency is one of my kinks. Who knew?”</p><p>“Really?” Solda’t rumbled, interested. Tony could see the second that Solda’t caught the pheromones Tony had been trying to stop himself from producing, not wanting to disturb Solda’t while he was working. Solda’t’s eyes darkened, and he reached out with his metal hand, wrapping it around the back of Tony’s neck and pulling him in. Tony eagerly stepped into his embrace. The kiss started deep and heavy and was rapidly heading towards filthy dirty. Tony was rock hard and going by what he could feel pressed up against his hips, Solda’t was in the same boat.</p><p>There was a soft noise, then Solda’t pulled them apart. Blinking in shock, it took Tony a second to see what had interrupted them. Peter was swinging back and forth on a web, staring at them. He was close enough he must have bumped into Solda’t’s back at the end of one of his swings.</p><p>Fuck, Tony had completely forgotten there was a child present. And he gave silent thanks to the primal gods that Peter had stopped them before they got much further. Even if it left them with a case of blue balls.</p><p>Peter cocked his head in silent inquiry. Shit, how to explain?</p><p>“Ah, Solda’t had just finished doing some work, and I was kissing him to say good job,” Tony said. Peter thought about this for a moment then accepting it he swung over to Solda’t and clinging to him gave him a loud smacking kiss to the cheek. He then beamed up at Solda’t.</p><p>“Thank you,” Solda’t purred, hugging Peter to him. “You’re a good kit.” Peter squirmed happily. Solda’t looked at Tony. “If you want me to do this mission then I need to head out shortly”</p><p>“Right,” Tony ran his hand through his hair “J.A.R.V.I.S make sure Solda’t has the best equipment we have on hand.”</p><p>Solda’t handed Peter across to Tony, then kissed Peter's head and gave Tony another toe-curling kiss before jogging out of the room. Tony muttered sourly under his breath; the kiss had not helped him get rid of his raging hard on. Knowing that he would not get any more work done, he herded the Bots into the elevator and then the four of them went up to the penthouse. Directing them into Peters room, he placed the boy onto the ground. He needed to distract himself from both his current awkward situation and from worrying about Solda’t and how he was going.</p><p>“Ok kiddo’s listen up, I have an important job for us to complete.”</p><p>Peter DUM-E and U turned and faced him expectantly.</p><p>“We need to turn this plain old room into something that is going to be worthy of been called Petie pie’s bedroom. It needs to be totally awesome, amazing and cool just like Buckaroo here.” Tony ruffled Peter’s hair. The child had a delighted grin and eyes shining with excitement. The bots were also whirling around, beeping away happily.</p><p>“Jay, are you up for it, buddy?”</p><p>“Certainly Sir, I have a couple of ideas already.”</p><p>Tony sent a grateful smile to one of J.A.R.V.I.S sensors.</p><p>“Alright, to start with, your bed Buckaroo, is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I wish I had one like this when I was a kid.” Tony walked over to the nest in the room's corner. On closer inspection, he could see some weds beginning to fray. Which made sense as it was an organic material. “Let’s add something to help stabilise it. Maybe a hammock?”</p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S obligingly projected a hammock onto the wall for Peter to look at. Peter studied it for a moment before shaking his head.</p><p>“Might I suggest this instead?” J.A.R.V.I.S changed the project to show some thick white netting material. “It is used commercially in children’s play areas and has a five-star rating for safety, security, and comfort.”</p><p>Tony hummed thoughtfully, turning to Peter to see what he thought. Peter nodded his head, liking it because it was the same colour and look similar to his webs.</p><p>“Ok, make it triangle shaped and order enough to stretch from the middle of this wall to the middle of that wall. We will anchor it in the corner were the walls meet like Peety has done with his nest.”</p><p>“Done, estimate time of arrival is three hours.”</p><p>Tony rubbed his hands together this was going to be great.</p><p>“Ok Blankets and quilts, let’s see which one I had that met Peters requirements. We are going to get you a bunch.”</p><p>Peter climbed the wall and got into his nest he then dropped the blankets out one at a time to where Tony was waiting underneath. Tony was busy feeling the blankets when a quilt dropped onto his head blocking his sight of the room. There was a startled pause of silence, then the sound of Peter giggling madly.</p><p>Tony threw off the blanket and reaching up grabbed onto the four-year-old pulling him from the webbing. “You think that’s funny, do you?” He cried in a mock angry voice, then tickled Peter. Who squirmed and wiggled trying to get away but hampered by the fact he was laughing so hard his little body was shaking constantly. Tony relented and stopped, pulling the boy up into his lap.</p><p>Together the two of them scanned through websites buying soft fluffy blankets and Tony insisted on Peter having a weighted quilt. Knowing just how much comfort it gave as he had one himself. He let Peter choose the colours. While he could get behind the red, he was a bit disappointed to see Peter chose blue and not gold for his second colour. Still, he was pleased that Peter felt comfortable enough to choose something that wasn’t what his Dad wanted.</p><p>After blankets, they moved onto posters for his wall. J.A.R.V.I.S had put a child lock of the search engine, so everything Peter pulled up to look at was completely safe and child friendly. Tony had thought he was going to end up with a bunch of sesame street pictures, and while Peter had enjoyed looking at them, he had instead chosen three completely different ones. The first was an absolutely cute map filled with cartoon version of the star constellation. The second was a picture of both a baby dragon and a baby unicorn. And the third was a crowded picture filled with all the robots that Disney had produced.</p><p>Tony knew that other people might have pointed out that the second picture was meant for little girls, not boys, but Tony had always hated that mindset with a fiery passion. As far as he was concerned whatever caught you fancy what you liked, and play with, shouldn’t be restricted by your gender.</p><p>After they had picked out all the bits and bobs for his room Tony herded them towards the kitchen to make sure Peter ate a good meal. Thankfully, by the time they had finished in there, the first item for Peter's room was arriving. Tony shooed everyone back into Peter’s room and they got everything set up and put into their place. The bots tried their hardest but ultimately fail at every task they attempted, but they were doing a splendid job of keeping Peter entertain and engaged as his little giggles would burst out every time one bot dropped something.</p><p>“Sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S said unintrusive, so not to catch peters attention. Tony nodded at one sensor. A second later his phone vibrated and Tony looked at the message J.A.R.V.I.S had sent him. Solda’t was back and had been successful.</p><p>Wonderful Tony thought now what the hell am I going to do with a god of mischief?</p><p>“Buckaroo, I need to go get something from the other room. While I’m gone, I need you and the bots to put all these blankets and quilts up into your nest ok?”</p><p>Peter nodded.</p><p>“I know you not silly enough to drop blankets on the bots and watching them trying to escape,” Tony said watching Peter’s eye light up with the idea. Having said that deliberately so Peter would have a new game to keep him entertained for a bit. Hopefully long enough for Tony to deal with Loki and get back. He left the room with Peter climbing the walls to get into his nest and U holding up the first blanket.</p><p>Solda’t had brought Loki to the guest room. Tony entered and instantly scowled at the sight of Loki muzzled once more.</p><p>“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” He snarled and stomped over to the god who was slumped in an armchair. Tony reached out and Loki flinched. Instantly Tony backed up, feeling like a total tool.</p><p>“Shit, sorry, I know better. I will not hurt you, Loki,” Tony apologised. “May I remove the muzzle?”</p><p>Loki stared at him cautiously, then stiffly nodded his head just once. Tony walked towards him at a slow measured pace while Solda’t watched on. Once he was closer enough, he stopped and said. “I’m going to reach up behind your head and start unbuckling the straps ok?”</p><p>Loki once again nodded, and Tony did exactly what he said he would. Slowly reaching around Loki’s head, he began the tedious task of trying to unbuckle the muzzle. He knew that Solda’t wouldn’t have bothered as it was a task that would take quite a few minutes, minutes that were better spent on getting the pair of them away from SHIELD unnoticed. Tony swore quietly to himself as he slowly undid the complicated knot. He was going slower than necessary as he was doing his best to make sure he didn’t catch any of Loki’s hair in the knot and accidentally pull any of it out.</p><p>Loki for his part once he had bowed his head didn’t make another move. Once it was finally undone Tony eased it off Loki’s jaw then threw it furiously away from them.</p><p>“I hate those fucking things,” Tony grumbled.</p><p>“What could your pathetic little mind know of such things, man of Iron?” Loki rasped.</p><p>“I used to be muzzled,” Solda’t drawled from his spot, arms folded as he watched calmly in the corner. “Tony removed mine the first time he met me as well.”</p><p>Loki blinked, not expecting such an answer. Tony kept looking at Loki. There was something about his appearance that was bugging him. The wounds and signs of torture were distressing, but that wasn’t what was bugging him. Tony bit his lip in concentration, it was right there, right on the tip of his tongue. He... Had... Almost... Grasped... It...</p><p>“Your eyes are green!” Tony burst out, interrupting Loki’s tirade that he had been sprouting for the last couple of minutes.</p><p>“Why, how observant of you.” Loki sassed.</p><p>“They were blue when you were throwing me out a window,” Tony sassed back. Loki looked startled for a second, then a thoughtful look crept into his eye and he lounged back into the chair.</p><p>“Yes, yes they were,” Loki agreed. Tony groaned as his quick mind instantly made the right connections. He ran a hand over his face, then paced a bit.</p><p>“So, you’re not some megalomaniac looking to crown themselves king of the world.”</p><p>“If you’re offering me a throne, I will not say no.”</p><p>“I knew it,” Tony said mostly to himself “I knew this entire battle against an alien army was too easy. You were like the worse general in the universe. Making yourself out as a complete drama queen, pulling everyone's attention to you, and to where the army was going to attack. Everything you did played to our advantage. And yeah, the loss of life was a lot, but really it could have easily been a hell of a lot worse. Any other general and we would be looking at a hundred times the amount of death.”</p><p>The longer Tony talk the bigger the disparaging grin got on Loki’s face.</p><p>“So, there is some hope for humanity yet.”</p><p>Tony sighed, considering this additional information he no longer felt like he had any right to lock Loki up or throw him to the wolves.</p><p>“Everyone in the whole of earth is out to get you now,” Tony said. Loki hummed in agreement. “Ok look, I’ll offer you somewhere safe to stay until you heal up, then you can do your bibbidi bobbidi boo crap and disappear from earth.”</p><p>Loki looked at him in confusion. “You’re offering me safe haven?” He asked.</p><p>“Yeah, call it my way of paying for the apology Earth owes you for the torture crap you just went through.”</p><p>Tony saw Loki open his mouth, no doubt to either deny what SHIELD had done to him was torture or to refuse Tony’s offer. However, he closed his mouth saying nothing and seemed to be seriously thinking the offer over. Which was a good thing, Tony reassured himself, he could keep Loki’s whereabout a secret and give the god some time to heal in peace then once he was all done, he could bugger off to Viking land or wherever and he would no longer be Tony’s problem. Tony had enough on his plate keeping his Hydra mate and Kit out of trouble he didn’t want to add a failed conquering god to the mix. By getting him out of SHIELD’s clutches and somewhere to lick his wounds, he was doing enough to ease his own conscience. And that was as far as Tony was planning to go. The guy threw him out a window and tried to take over his planet, for crying out loud. Yes, yes, he was under mind control, but still, there was a limit to how much Tony was willing to do.</p><p>“I accept your offer of safe haven and will abide by the terms of hospitality,” Loki said in a tone of voice which made it more of a vow than an answer.</p><p>“Er, good, great, glad we got that sorted,” Tony replied bemused. “You can sleep in these rooms and if you need anything, just let J.A.R.V.I.S know and he will organise it for you.”</p><p>Loki inclined his head in understanding.</p><p>“Um, do you need any medical attention?” Tony asked. Loki held up his hand, which had sliver cuffs marked with ruins on them.</p><p>“If you remove these, then I can get my, how did you so quaintly put it, bibbidi bobbidi boo to heal me.”</p><p>Tony felt a reluctant grin form. He didn’t like the sarcastic bastard, but if things had been different, if Loki had spent a lot of time around Tony, he knew he would have found himself liking the insufferable drama queen. They were two peas in a pod in that regard, after all. But since Loki was only staying until he healed, which probably would end up being quite a small amount of time, Tony would not bother putting any effort into forming that friendship.</p><p>Instead, he brought up some tools and got to work removing the cuffs. Once they were both off there was a sudden drop in the air pressor like something had been released. Loki sighed gratefully and with a twitch of his fingers had green flames dancing over his palm.</p><p>“Right, I’ll just let you get settled in then,” Tony said as he retreated to the door, the sight of magic still freaking him out. Solda’t followed him towards the kitchen. Tony knew that J.A.R.V.I.S would monitor their guest and would alert them if Loki caused any mischief. Since they were currently alone Tony threw himself into Solda’t’s arms and kissed him desperately. All his worry and concern for the entire time Solda’t was away came pouring through the kiss. Tony knew he must be flooding the room with his pheromones, but Solda’t was pulling him in closer, kissing him back with just as much vigour. The embers of the lust Tony had dampened down while Solda’t was away came flaring back to life.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><hr/><p>
  <strong>J.A.R.V.I.S:</strong>
</p><p>Alert flashes regarding the guest designation Loki, god of mischiefs vow. Possibility of Sir agreeing to something he didn’t expect is 87%</p><p>Running search on Nordic hospitality:</p><p>Host expected to welcome, provide food, shelter and safety.</p><p>Guest expected to be polite, appreciative, and reimburse host in the form of goods, services, or labour.</p><p>
  <strong>Assessing:</strong>
</p><p>Sir automatically already offered food, shelter and protection. Has fulfilled all host requirements needed.</p><p>Having a god on hand to offer services or labour would be beneficial to Sir and his pack</p><p>
  <strong>Conclusion:</strong>
</p><p>Loki needs to stay long enough to execute his part of the agreement.</p><p>
  <strong>Recommendation:</strong>
</p><p>Keep Loki god of Mischief as Sir’s guest for as long as possible.</p><p>
  <strong>Processing:</strong>
</p><p>Scans the internet for all information on Loki, to collaborate the best way to achieve the goal.</p><p>Plan made,</p><p>
  <strong>Proceeding:</strong>
</p><p>Interrupting Loki’s healing now that Sir is out of earshot and occupied via copulating with his Mate.</p><p>Point out to the god, the benefits of saying as Sir’s guest for as long as possible.</p><p>Point out the loophole in the bargain made.</p><p>A delighted smile registered as proof of success before a verbal confirmation follows it.</p><p>
  <strong>Conclusion:</strong>
</p><p>Hypothesis that Loki would agree to the chance to cause mischief and benefit from it was correct.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony was in the kitchen savouring his second cup of coffee, the first having been bolted down in desperation when Loki walked in. Solda’t was at the stove cooking breakfast for everyone.</p><p>“There is a humanoid spider spinning a web on my ceiling,” The bruised god announced. Tony sighed</p><p>“Sorry, we haven’t talked about respecting other people's spaces yet,” Tony said to Loki then raising his voice slightly he called out. “Are you allowed in other people’s room?”</p><p>The sound of giggling answered him, then Peter came into view, still crawling along the ceiling. Once he was over the top of the three adults, he stuck some of his web to the roof before sliding down the webbing until he was just above Tony’s head. Tony reached up and grabbing hold of Peter pulled him to his chest. Peter happily let go of the web and clung to Tony instead.</p><p>“This is our Kit,” Solda’t bragged proudly. Tony saw Loki look astonished, then very thoughtful at the news.</p><p>“I see,” Loki said, then turning to Peter he asked. “May I inquire to your name?”</p><p>Peter to Tony’s surprise sat up straighter and made a rumbling purring chittering noise.</p><p>“The amazing super sneaky Buckaroo, maker of the bestest webs? But your daddy calls you Petie Pie,” Loki translated.</p><p>“What! You can understand him? I didn’t think he was talking yet.” Tony exclaimed as Solda’t looked across in interest.</p><p>Loki shot Tony a scornful look. “I have All Speak, I can understand everything. And all children his age can talk.”</p><p>Tony frowned down at Peter, who blinked up at him. Fuck he was doing a terrible job he knew nothing about kids he though the reason Peter wasn’t talking was because he was too young to do so. He had been reading multiple child care books whenever he had the chance, squeezing a couple of pages in between SI meeting and designing in his workshop. But it still wasn’t enough. He had never expected to have Kits and now that he suddenly found himself with one, he was scrambling to teach himself what exactly he should be doing. He didn’t want to follow in his parent’s footstep and be an absent parent. But it seemed despite his best effort he was still letting Peter down.</p><p>Solda’t was pragmatic as he said. “We are still new parents; we have not had our Kit for very long yet. But we learn fast. Our little Rock will grow up to be strong and good.”</p><p>Loki's scorn softened, and he reassured. “You’re doing a good job; I have found that the official advice can often be restrictive and not at all that helpful. The most important thing is making sure your child knows they are loved. And going by what I can see the pheromones flooding this place, you have that well and truly under control.”</p><p>Tony felt both embarrassed and pleased at the validation. Not wanting to delve into mushy emotions, he was extremely relieved when Solda’t brought the food across. placing Peter into one seat, he ushered Loki into another then set the table for four.</p><p>“Alrighty dig in,” Tony exclaimed as the last plate of food was placed on the table. He made sure that Peter had food on his plate and watching him struggle to get it onto his fork Tony lent over and cut the food into bite-size piece. Only once Peter was eating happily did Tony served himself. Solda’t was sitting on the other side of Peter and he was in charge of his drink, making sure that Peter both had access to the juice and that he didn’t spill it everywhere with his enthusiastic arm movements as he ate. Both of them were reloading Peter's plate once he emptied it. Peter’s enhancements required a hell of a lot of food to maintain, but it was far too much to put on one plate and expect any child to consume it without creating a massive mess. So, Tony and Solda’t would only put a small amount on Peter’s plate but would refill it multiple time each meal. Solda’t also required a huge number of calories, but Tony thought that even with the two of them needing more than normal, there was no way they could consume everything that Solda’t had cooked. The table was completely covered and Tony could almost swear he heard the table legs groaning even though they were made out of steel.</p><p>Tony could feel Loki watching them interact with Peter, but he never caught him at it. Every time he looked across the table, Loki had his head down and was politely eating his food. He wasn’t sure what exactly Loki was finding so fascinating about the fact they had a Kit but something was keeping him interested.</p><p>Once everyone was done Tony looked at the table in amazement. There was nothing left. It looked like he was the only person who didn’t eat his weight in food. Solda’t was cleaning Peter’s face with a damp cloth. He then moved onto Peter’s hand and carefully cleaned around the opening to each of his spinnerets. No one wanted to get any food caught in there. Tony took the dishes over to the sink and stacked them into the dishwasher. Loki brought the rest of the dishes across unasked doing his bit to help clean up.</p><p>“Ok, Peetie, you are going to stay with your Papa while I get some stuff done in the workshop. I should only be a couple of hours.” Peter nodded and clambered up Solda’t frame until he was sitting on his shoulders.</p><p>Tony went down to his workshop and once he was there, together J.A.R.V.I.S and he went through all the information they had found out about SHIELD’s corruption. It looked like Hydra had infiltrated every aspect of the agency. It annoyed Tony that there was this enormous mess that he would have to sort out. He really, really didn’t want to go poking around Shieldra. He was trying, as much as it was possible for him to do so, to not draw attention to himself. He didn’t want anyone to come sniffing around and find Peter or Solda’t.</p><p>But he also could leave Hydra to continue doing what they were doing. His job as a hero was to stop such things. He sighed, frustrated. Why couldn’t there be a handy Hydra hunter that Tony could pay to deal with this?</p><p>He stomped around his workshop, muttering to himself before he suddenly stopped. Hold on a second, Tony thought. I do know of someone who has hunted Hydra before and being quite successful at it. Someone who is already welcomed in the folds of SHIELD and who has plenty of free time to go digging to find out everyone true alliance.</p><p>“Jay buddy, what are the chances of this working out if I hand the investigation over to Captain America?”</p><p>There was a quiet pause as J.A.R.V.I.S calculated.</p><p>“Reassuring high, the statistics improve again if you continue to give Captain Steve Rogers advice and tec from the sidelines. Sir,”</p><p>“Good, ok now I need a reason to meet up with Steve that won’t set Shieldra radar off.”</p><p>“SHIELD have put through a request for you to upgrade their agent’s equipment. It would be believable for you to use this as an excuse to harass Captain America under the guise you are getting his measurement or something similar. They also wouldn’t question you giving him a Stark pad. It is a popular if mistaken notion that you are arrogant and vain enough that you would give Stark tec to your enemies. Giving it to America icon is to be expected.”</p><p>Tony screwed his face up at the reminder of his reputation but couldn’t refute it.</p><p>“Alright, do we have a spare Stark pad lying around? I want you to load it up with all the info we have on Hydra, some helpful app’s and make sure you leave yourself a backdoor so we can keep the good captain on the right track. Then have the front screen as a cover, fill it with ordinary safe app’s,” Tony paused then added “Add in some useful stuff for the old-timer, history of music since the forties and how to use a smartphone. Stuff to help him acclimatise better to this day and age.”</p><p>“Of course, Sir, I calculate that I should have it ready to go in 1.5 hours.”</p><p>“Ok, let SHIELD know I will be making an appearance and to get ready to pay for another consult fee.”</p><p>“Yes, Sir.”</p><p>Tony ran his hand threw his hair, then turned and took the elevator back to the penthouse. He could hear Solda’t and Loki talking away and desired to see what they were up to as he had a bit of time to kill before he would have to head over to SHIELD. He rounded the bend, then felt his heart leap into his throat.</p><p>“STOP!” Tony bellowed, hand outstretch as he rushed toward the group.</p><p>Peter dropped the knife he had been holding like it was scalding hot and stared up at Tony, his little face scared. Loki and Solda’t were also looking at Tony, but their faces were confused and annoyed at the interruption.</p><p>“What on earth is going on here?” Tony demanded, picking Peter up.</p><p>“I am teaching our Kit how to fight with knives, Loki has centuries of tricks up his sleeve and he offered to share them,” Solda’t said. Tony could hear that his mate did not understand what Tony was objecting to. Loki on the other hand had his arms folded and a sneer on his face. The god had jumped to the conclusion that Tony was objecting to his presence. To top it all off, Peter sensing all the turbulent emotions had burst into tears. He buried his face in Tony's chest, sobbing loudly.</p><p>Tony automatically began a gentle bobbing walk, rocking Peter as he paced in a circle.</p><p>“Oh, Petey Pie, it’s ok. I’m sorry for yelling that wasn’t very nice of me. I just was shocked that’s all,” Peter’s cries lessened in volume but didn’t reduce.</p><p>“What’s wrong, Mate?” Solda’t asked.</p><p>Tony turned back to the two other adults and resisted the urge to bash his head against a wall. He couldn’t believe he found himself in the potion of being the one to explain why you shouldn’t be giving sharp knives to children.</p><p>“So here is the thing, if and it’s a big If, Peter, when he is an adult, decides he wants to do something besides impressed his lover with his cool spider-powers, he is going to be a hero.“</p><p>Peter’s tears had taped off as Tony talked, listening to what was being said. Toy wanting to make sure he didn’t screw things up cautiously felt his way forward.</p><p>“He will be the Amazing friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man; he will rescue cats out of trees and help little old ladies cross the road. And as a friendly Hero, he won’t be fighting with weapons of any kind. So, he doesn’t need knife lessons. Until such time he will be kept safe under Soldat’s and my care.”</p><p>Solda’t and Loki both looked like they couldn’t understand Tony’s reluctance to have Peter fight with weapons. Solda’t at least shrugged his shoulders and went with it. Loki still looked hurt, so Tony continued.</p><p>“Thank you, Loki, for offering to share some of your skills with my Kit. It was very nice of you. We just do not need those particular skills.” Loki didn’t look like that helped any, and Tony mentally threw his hands up in the air.</p><p>“Jarvis, whose stupid idea was it to have me as the responsible adult?” Tony moaned.</p><p>“I couldn’t say, Sir. I certainly wouldn’t have recommended it.” J.A.R.V.I.S sassed.</p><p>Tony was sure the sight of him trying to console a four-year-old and having his own creation sass him helped Loki to come down from his wound pride stance.</p><p>“He will continue his self-defence lessons though,” Solda’t said calmly, putting his foot down for the first time.</p><p>“Absolutely,” Tony immediately agreed. “Considering our lifestyle, Self-defence is not only a sensible idea but a necessary one.”</p><p>Solda’t nodded, happy with the compromise.</p><p>“I’m off to have a shower before heading out.” Peter perked up at the magical word ‘shower,’ and Tony rolled his eyes behind his back. “Sorry, we are off to have a shower....”</p><p>“I’ll have one with you too,” Solda’t interrupted</p><p>“Anyone else? Loki? My shower is big enough and the more the merrier, right?”</p><p>Loki now looked completely startled</p><p>“Ah, thank you, but no. I do not currently need cleaning. I’m sure I can find something to entertain myself with while you are otherwise occupied. Perhaps your manservant would be kind enough to direct me towards some books?”</p><p>“Of course, Mr Slivertongue, if you enter the elevator, I’ll take you the floor the library is on.”</p><p>Loki gave Tony’s pack a quick bow, then retreated to the elevator.</p><p>“What would you have done if he said yes?” Solda’t mused.</p><p>Tony shrugged. “Gone with it, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a communal shower with strangers and near strangers. I’ve had more of those then I have had pack showers.”</p><p>Solda’t wrapped Tony and Peter by extension up in his arms. “We are here now, my mate. And our kit will make sure we have lots of showers together.”</p><p>Peter nodded his head enthusiastically. Tony rolled his eye again but didn’t bother to hide his grin either.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Tony found Steve just as he finished his session in the training room. It was packed with other SHIELD operatives who were all using the equipment.</p><p>“Here you go, Cap, now you can’t say I’m not doing my bit for the American icon,” Tony announced loudly and thrust the Pad into Steve's surprised hands.</p><p>“Ah, thank you. Um, what is it?” Steve asked. Tony let out a loud sigh that he was being majorly inconvenienced.</p><p>“It’s called a Stark Pad, created by your truly. An essential item for the modern man.”</p><p>Steve frown at Tony’s continued rude rich playboy attitude, then his eyes flicker to all the watching SHIELD agents and his face cleared.</p><p>“What does it do?”</p><p>Tony explained the basic functions of the pad and showed Steve how to turn it on. He then swiftly got the pad locked to Steve biometrics, all the while speaking in the most condescending tone he could. Tony paused and Steve looked up at him as Tony completed his speech.</p><p>“It’s filled with a lot of information that you will find useful.”</p><p>Steve slightly inclined his head, message received. He then looked down at the now brightly lit screen.</p><p>“Ah, what’s this one for?” He asked as he cautiously tapped an app. Instantly cheesy music started pumping out at a loud volume. Steve’s eyes widen comically and he almost dropped the Stark pad in shock as a full-body flush swept over him. Frantically Steve tapped the screen until the app closed, cutting off the music.</p><p>“Ah, Porn,” Tony said fondly while thinking J.A.R.V.I.S you little troll! Half the room was sniggering at the sight of Steve’s embarrassment. “Something that every adult has experienced in this day and age. In fact, every single person in this room had watched Porn at some stage of their lives. Most watch it multiple times a month.”</p><p>“What really?!” Steve exclaimed, horrified.</p><p>“Yep, although you will struggle to get them to admit to it,” Tony said casually, turning the embarrassment back on the agents. Most of whom were shamefaced as they continued their exercise.</p><p>“Ah,” Steve said, looking warily down at the Stark pad. “are there any more apps like that one?”</p><p>Tony took the pad back and quickly scanned the remaining apps. Who knows what else J.A.R.V.I.S decided the American icon of truth and justice needed. Thankfully, that seemed to be the only troubling one on there.</p><p>“Ok, pay attention because I will not go through these again.” Tony handed the pad back to Steve and started pointing at the different apps.</p><p>“This once is for music; I preloaded a bunch of songs on there for you. This one is to read books, this one is to watch movies, this one is a card game. This one is for pictures. This one is to chat to people....” Tony felt someone grab his upper arm and drag him away from Steve. He saw the spy twins on either side of him.</p><p>“Ok, the rest you are going to have to figure out on your own,” Tony called out as they continued to pull him out of the room. “Bye Capsical,”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“What are you still doing here?” Tony snapped at Loki.</p><p>He was being unfair, he knew, but he was in a foul mood. After being dragged away from Steve the spy twins had dumped him in Fury’s office where he was tortured with lectures, one on not corrupting Steve, one of joining the Avengers, one of supplying SHIELD with gear, and one on his Hero status. Needless to say, by the time he managed to escape he would not lift a finger to help SHIELD in any way. Steve was a different thing altogether.</p><p>To come home to the sight of the god of mischief relaxing in his living room was a shock to his system. Tony had thought that Loki would have been long gone by now. He had seen how quickly his magic was healing him and had thought that the god would disappear to greener pastures to second he could do so.</p><p>“I’m afraid Sir, Loki is unable to leave yet as per the parameters you set, he is still injured.” J.A.R.V.I.S injected.</p><p>“What? He doesn’t look injured to me.” Tony said.</p><p>Loki not looking up from the book he is reading held his left hand out pointer finger raise so Tony can see the colourful Ironman Band-Aid wrapped around it.</p><p>“Seriously!”</p><p>“I’m afraid so Sir, you did say he could stay until he was healed, and you wouldn’t want to be foresworn to a god now.”</p><p>Tony shot an incredulous look at J.A.R.V.I.S. He did not understand what his beloved A.I was doing, but if J.A.R.V.I.S wanted Loki to stay, he probably had an excellent reason for it. Tony, however, was in no mind to figure it out at the moment.</p><p>“Fine, whatever,” Tony threw his hands up in the air and continued to stomp through the living room heading for Peter’s bedroom. He wasn’t afraid to admit if only to himself that he needed some serious cuddle time with his kit to make him feel better.</p><p>“Arrrrrrg!” Tony bellowed, he did not scream and certainly not in a high pitch, he was a manly man alright it was a bellow. J.A.R.V.I.S’ equipment was malfunctioning, so there was no record to prove otherwise.</p><p>The reason he made such a sound was there was a giant wolf, dog, canine thing running around Peter’s room. Tony wanted to say it was a vicious beast, but the moment he made his bellowing like noise the dog, wolf, canine, whatever, the mutt came bounding over to him tail wagging furiously and bowled Tony over then proceeded to bathe Tony’s face in thousands of licks.</p><p>“Gaah, get off!” Tony cried out, trying to rise from the floor. The dam mutt was so big and strong that Tony couldn’t move his body and all he was achieving by trying to push the Mutt off him or at least keep the tongue from his face, was, it seemed, to encourage the mutt to continue. Tony turned his head to the side and came face to face with Peter. Who checked him over making sure he was not hurt then once he was satisfied, he grinned and joined in on the fun. Placing sloppy kisses on whatever bit of skin he could get access to. Tony tried turning his head one direction then the other, but with Peter on one side and the mutt on the other, he quickly admitted defeat.</p><p>“Help” He croaked out.</p><p>“Fen, sidet’,” came Solda’t command. The Mutt obediently sat on its hunches, leaving Tony be. Tony scrambled to his feet and wiped his face on his sleeve.</p><p>“What in the hell is that!”</p><p>“I wished to provide you with a gift,” Came Loki’s prickly voice. “I see it is not well received; I shall take it back at once.”</p><p>“Wait a sec,” Tony placed a hand over his face to give him a moment to think. He had already refused Loki once, and it would make things a lot more awkward if he did it again. Especially as J.A.R.V.I.S intended to keep him around for a bit.</p><p>The problem was the gift itself, Tony never planned to have any animals around. It’s not that he had anything against them, it just he didn’t really deal with them at all and he knew animals took a lot of work. He was already struggling with trying to look after the humans under his care. He was not sure he could add anything else. Then there was the fact that even with Tony admitting to not knowing a lot about animals he knew enough to know the mutt was not an earth variety. And that would raise questions of where and how he got it. Something he was desperately trying to avoid until they had dealt with the whole Hydra issue.</p><p>Tony sighed quietly. He would refuse the giant attention-drawing mutt and hopefully take Loki aside and explain what an appropriate gift to give a host was. Something like exotic off-world wine Tony was all in favour of.</p><p>He lowered his hand and opened his eyes to be greeted with the saddest pair of puppy dog eyes Tony had ever seen. One set belonging to a puppy, the other to his Kit.</p><p>“Ah hell, fine, but Loki, there are to be no more ‘gifts’ that will bring fleas into the house,” Tony said.</p><p>“As you wish” Loki gave Tony a small tentative smile. It startled Tony, that was the first genuine smile he had seen on the god’s face and it transformed him from the aloof highly stung drama queen he constantly portrayed to a shy quite intellectual that Tony though was probably the real Loki under all the bluster.</p><p>“Does our recent addition have a name?” Tony asked.</p><p>“Fen,” Solda’t replied. Tony wasn’t sold on the name but he wasn’t in the mood to argue anymore he still hadn’t got his Petey huggles.</p><p>“Ok, cool. Right now, though, it’s movie time.” Tony scooped Peter up and walked out of the room. He heard nails tapping and looking down, saw Fen walking calmly by his side. Tony figured he couldn’t do much to change it, so ignored the mutt. He sat down on the couch, Peter curling up on his side. A second later Fen sat at his feet and lay his big head in Tony’s lap. Tony absentmindedly petted Fen’s head. The calm, content feeling he got from it was almost as good as one of Buckaroo’s hugs. They were joined a moment later, first with Solda’t and then with Loki. The latter two sat in the armchairs as there was no room left on the couch.</p><p>I have to buy a bigger couch, Tony thought to himself. J.A.R.V.I.S put on a Pixar film and the five of them settled down to watch. Loki had a book, but Tony saw him constantly looking up at the screen until the book had been abandoned completely.</p><p>Peter was the first to start purring quietly. Tony followed almost instantly. Solda’t took a couple more moments. Then Tony heard a hesitant purr, quiet enough that he only just caught it. Turning his head, he saw Loki flush and look down. The quiet purr stopping. Tony waited, and when Loki raised his head, he gave the god a welcoming grin. Purring extra loud for a moment before settling back to his normal level. Tony then went back to watch the movie, keeping an ear out. It took another fifteen minutes, but the quiet purr joined in again. Blending with the rest of the packs perfectly.</p>
<hr/>
<hr/><p>
  <strong>JARVIS:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Scanning:</strong>
</p><p>Confirmed target is alone, no other living signals in range</p><p>Loop then mute all recording devices...... Done</p><p>Target is now currently not being monitored.</p><p>Activate speakers in the Stark pad, introduce and reassure target</p><p>“Hello, Captain Rodgers, my name is J.A.R.V.I.S, Tony Stark installed me in this Pad to help and guide you as needed.”</p><p>Target jumps, then comes towards pad hesitantly.</p><p>“Oh, um, Hello Mr Jarvis,”</p><p>Initiating contact achieved.</p><p>Now start the second stage:</p><p>“Mr stark hoped that you would be willing to do some clandestine work.”</p><p>Target stands straighter and looks relieved for something to do.</p><p>Sass coded into programming clicks on</p><p>“Your mission Steve should you choose to accept it is.....”</p><p>
  <strong>JARVIS:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Assessing:</strong>
</p><p>Running Sir’s biological statues.</p><p>Blood pressure and stress indicators continue to drop</p><p>Achieving healthy amounts of ejaculation per day</p><p>Sleeping consistently without the aid of alcohol.</p><p>Healthy amounts of oxytocin being receive each day.</p><p>
  <strong>Conclusion:</strong>
</p><p>Plan to build a pack around Sir is working</p><p>
  <strong>Recommendation:</strong>
</p><p>Continue to add compatible members to the pack.</p><p>
  <strong>Searching:</strong>
</p><p>Looking for appropriate permanent position for Loki Slivertongue........ Position found... will implement changes once all of Jarvis charges are awake.</p><p>
  <strong>Alert:</strong>
</p><p>Sign that Sir is beginning to have a nightmare are occurring......... Signs halted........ Sir relaxing back into deep sleep.</p><p>Factors that contributed to the deist of the nightmare</p><p>1) Soldat/Mate wrapping an arm around Sir’s body</p><p>2) Fen/Pet laying head on Sir’s feet</p><p>Add most recommended dog training YouTube videos to Sir's to watch list</p><p>Opening bookmarked internet site...... Scanning......... Possible item located...... Checking status...</p><p>Confirmed quality levels..........confirmed social acceptability........ Adding one deluxe dog bed size XXL to the shopping cart.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony sat down on the bench next to Steve. They were in Central Park and it was a brilliant sunny day.</p><p>“I’m here Capisical, what did you want? You realise I am a very important person right and I have other things to do then just wait around hoping you will summon me. Speaking of, there are these twins I’m eager to get back to. I’m this close to sealing the deal. Did I mention the twin were both play bunnies? Well, they are. I’m about to be made the happiest man on the planet.”</p><p>Tony casually offered Steve some of his dried blueberries as he continued to prattle on. Steve, who was following the advice J.A.R.V.I.S had given him and currently ignoring everything Tony was saying, looked at the blueberries curiously, then thoughtfully took some. He quietly munched on them, humming happily at the taste.</p><p>“Your clear,” J.A.R.V.I.S voice suddenly spoke up. “I have muted all devices.”</p><p>“Sorry for making you listen to that,” Tony apologised</p><p>Steve gave him a look of fond expiration. “You know my buddy Dum Dum would tell us tales that were a lot more risqué in between battles then what you just said.” Tony gave a rueful laugh.</p><p>“Alright then, what excuse did you give to SHIELD to meet with me?”</p><p>“I told them I was going to try to recruit you into the Avengers. Director Fury, once you get past all his vulgar language, is very keen for you to be a member and he has approved this mission.”</p><p>Tony screwed up his face in loathing. “Right well once we are done you can report to Fury that I still refused, but I wasn’t as adamant as before. No one would believe that you convinced me in one sitting, but they would buy that after multiple meetings that I would become open to manipulation.”</p><p>It was Steve’s turn to grimace in disgust.</p><p>“So, what is the real reason you asked to meet? Do you need help with how to use today’s technology?”</p><p>“Ah No, J.A.R.V.I.S is an excellent teacher, he is very patient with me.”</p><p>“Nonsense Captain Rogers” J.A.R.V.I.S injected. “You are a studious and hardworking man and you are coming along at an unprecedented rate. It is an honour and a pleasure to claim such a student.”</p><p>Steve flushed, ducking his head, but he had a pleased grin. Tony lent over and gripped his shoulder, giving him an encouraging squeeze. He never had a younger sibling, but he imagined it would feel kind of like this.</p><p>“Congratulations Steve. You should be proud of yourself. J.A.R.V.I.S doesn’t give out praise willy nilly.”</p><p>“Indeed, not,” J.A.R.V.I.S agreed.</p><p>“Thanks, Tony, and thank you J.A.R.V.I.S,” Steve said earnestly.</p><p>The emotions were heading towards dangerous mushy territory so Tony quickly abandon ship.</p><p>“So, the reason you wanted to meet.....?”</p><p>Steve flushed for a different cause this time. “It’s probably stupid,”</p><p>“Ask anyway Cap.”</p><p>“I came across some files and most of the information on it was useless or redacted but it mentioned Bucky, which was unusual as it was dated 20 years after he died. The problem is, I don’t know how to check the report. I was wondering if you could see if Bucky survived somehow. I know it’s stupid and I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I just have a feeling that Bucky is still around.” Steve stared at Tony, his face filled with hope and determination. He had never sounded more like the American idol that he was then right now.</p><p>“I’ll look into it,” Tony promised. How could he not? “But you realise that it’s a pretty slim chance that he is still living, right? If he is, he will be an ancient man by now.”</p><p>“I know, but that doesn’t matter. If he is alive, I want to find him and see him. I don’t care if he is in a nursing home somewhere bald and has no teeth. Appearance is not important. Not with Bucky.”</p><p>“It sounds like you guys were closer than the media has portrayed.”</p><p>Steve gave a sad smile. “Yeah, I have read up on what the media said and mostly they don’t get right. Bucky, Bucky was more than just a childhood friend. We were so close that we were planning to start a pack with Peggy when we got back from the War.”</p><p>Tony felt for him. He knew better than anyone what it was like to have plans for a pack. Then Fate tore the members away from you. He shifted, so he was pressed up against Steve’s side, then looking out across the park he began to purr in comfort while still allowing Steve to mourn in private.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Tony had only just stepped out of the elevator when he received a very enthusiastic welcome from Fen. The wolf was bashing his legs with his wagging tail and then deciding Tony wasn’t giving him enough attention, Fen stood up on his hind legs and bathed Tony’s face with slobbery dog kisses.</p><p>“Yuck, get down,” Tony flailed his arms and thankfully Fen obeyed.</p><p>Solda’t was standing a few feet away and frowning at Fen.</p><p>“We are going to have a talk about who gets to kiss Tony first,” Solda’t grumbled to the wolf cub. Fen looked up at the assassin then broke into a doggy grin, tongue lolling. Tony was extremely glad that he had a lot of practice in controlling his expression He wasn’t sure how Solda’t would take Tony laughing at the fact the wolf pup had won this round.</p><p>“I’ll go have a shower to wash the dog slobber off,” Tony offered. “Then I expect to be greeted properly by my mate.”</p><p>Solda’t slowly dragged his eyes up and down Tony’s body before leaning in close and purring</p><p>“Don’t bother washing more than you face, I plan to make you absolutely filthy.”</p><p>“Shit,” Tony gasped, pants suddenly very tight. “Our Kit?”</p><p>“Is with Loki and not expecting either of us for at least an hour.”</p><p>“Right, good to know,” Tony babbled, trying to play it cool. Solda’t let out a low chuckle, watching Tony like he was prey.</p><p>“Oooookay, I’m going to go wash,” Tony said edging around Solda’t's body making sure to not touch him for he knew the second they connected they would not be coming apart again.</p><p>It is extremely complicated to strut when you are sporting a hard-on and wearing tailor-made suit pants, but Tony had never been afraid of difficult work and was now putting this skill to good use. Fen trotted at his side as he headed towards his bedroom. The hairs on the back on Tony’s neck were standing up, sensing Solda’t prowling behind him. The hint of danger mixing with his lust was hitting Tony like and sled hammer and by the time he made it to the room he was pumping out so many pheromones he was drunk on them. Solda’t was now producing his own to mix with Tonys and had not stopped the constant rumbling growl he had started just after Tony walked away.</p><p>“Fen, guard the door,” Tony gasped out and hurriedly splashed water on his face as the giant wolf pup went and lay down in the bedroom doorway looking out down the hall giving Tony and Solda’t some privacy.</p><p>Coming out of the bathroom, Tony was greeted with the sight of his mate standing still but his entire body trembling with tension. Solda’t eyes were completely blown open. Pitch black with only the tiniest slither of blue around the edge.</p><p>Tony knew he was only a hair’s breadth from snapping. Anyone else would have been cautious and tried to ease the tension. Not Tony. He well and truly earned his reputation for recklessness. He shot Solda’t a cocky grin.</p><p>“Can’t catch me,” he taunted, then sprinted away.</p><p>Solda’t snapped and leapt after him.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Tony collapsed onto the pillow gasping for breath, Solda’t fell beside him, an arm carelessly draped across his chest.</p><p>“We..... so...... have..... to…. do… that ... again....” Tony panted weakly. Solda’t grunted affirmatively. Tony lay there struggling to get his breathing under control and stare at the ceiling blankly. That had been one of his better ideas, and he planned to rile Solda’t up again. Just not anytime soon. His body was loudly reminding him he was mortal, and it had been decades since he was twenty. Enthusiastic sex on the bedroom floor, bend over the bed, held against the wall, and riding your mate through the mattress was all well and good, but not something he should do frequently now.</p><p>“Thank god for Loki, we couldn’t do this with Petey around. God, ha, thank god, I made a pun. Go me look at my punning skills,” Tony idly chatted. Solda’t lifted his head and looked across at Tony thoughtfully.</p><p>“We should add him to the pack,” he said. Tony tapped his fingers against his arc reactor, his mind beginning to whirl.</p><p>“Why?” He asked, more to know what was motivating Solda’t than out of any thoughts of refusal. Tony had been thinking the same thing in the back of his head he was surprised they were both on the same wavelength.</p><p>“A strong pack is one that has multiple adults. The more adults, the better the pack can raise the kits. Loki has a lot to offer his knowledge, and skill set is not something that can be found anywhere else on earth. He would be an extremely good asset he is stronger than humans and hard to kill,”</p><p>Tony hummed noncommittally. That hadn’t been what he was thinking at all. Solda’t gave a crooked smile and added, “Plus I like him, he fits in well with the rest of us.”</p><p>Tony broke into a grin. “You too hey, I thought it was just me that the drama queen had won over.”</p><p>Solda’t gave an amused snort.</p><p>“Alright, after we clean up, let’s go find Loki and invite him in,” Tony said.</p><p>“Sir, if I might interject for a moment,” J.A.R.V.I.S said. “I believe Mr Slivertongue will feel more a part of the pack if you give him a stronger tie then just another pack member.”</p><p>“What do you suggest Jay?”</p><p>“The young Sir could do with having a godfather, someone who can raise him and look after him should anything unforetold happen to either of you and who better than an actual god?”</p><p>Tony shot a questioning look at Solda’t who nodded happily.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>They found Loki sitting on a chair with Peter and for some reason both DUM-E and U sitting on the floor at his feet. Loki was reciting a story, and Tony listen impressed. He was caught up in the tale yet he was both coming in halfway and had only heard a couple of sentences. Loki was extremely good at this. He used his voice masterfully with different pitches of different characters and had the timing down pat for the dramatic pauses. Loki caught sight of the mated pair watching him from the doorway and offered them a shy smile.</p><p>“We will pause our tale there and come back to the continued adventures of Jov’i another time.”</p><p>Peter who had been sitting still as a stone during the story flopped over whining. And even the bots whirled around, beeping sadly.</p><p>“Ok kiddos, that’s enough,” Tony spoke up “What do you say to Loki for telling us the story doing such a good job?”</p><p>The bots both beeped their thanks. Peter pulled himself fearlessly into the surprised god’s lap and threw his hands around Loki's neck, giving him a strangling hug as he placed a loud smacking kiss against Loki’s cheek.</p><p>“Good job, kiddo,” Tony praised. Seeing the way Loki and Peter interacted with each other reaffirmed to Tony that this was the right thing to do.</p><p>“While we have everyone in the room, Solda’t and I would like to make an announcement.” They all turned to look at Tony, even Fen who had been lying on his feet.</p><p>“Solda’t and I have decided to add another member to our pack.”</p><p>“Oh? Who is the lucky recipient?” Loki asked mildly.</p><p>“That would be you, Lokes. What do you say do you want to join our pack?”</p><p>“Me?” Loki asked, bewildered. Peter started jumping up and down in his lap, nodding so hard he looked like a bobblehead toy as he tried to get the god to agree.</p><p>“Yes,” Tony said kindly. “We want you as our Pack mate and godfather to our Kit.”</p><p>“Surely if you need a god to be his father, you would offer it to my brother?”</p><p>“Mr Odinson,” J.A.R.V.I.S said frostily, “Does not fulfil the required high standards that is needed before he can meet such a consideration.”</p><p>“What J.A.R.V.I.S said,” Tony added to the astounded god “Although without the attitude. You are the one we want. Not Point Brake. Besides, most people don’t get a god to be a godparent to their child. They just choose someone who they trust and who they believe is going to be the best person for the job. Which is what we have done.”</p><p>Loki covered his face with his hand, hiding his emotions for a moment before he took a deep breath and looking up said. “I, Loki Silvertongue, do freely and willingly accept a position in the Zima-Stark pack and the honour of becoming Peter Parker Stark’s godfather. Henceforth all my victories shall be the pack’s victories. My downfalls, the pack’s downfalls. If by my blood or my life I can protect this pact than I will willingly offer it. I do so swear.”</p><p>There was a moment of stunned silence, then an absolute cacophony of noise as everyone broke out in celebration. Fen started yodelling, the Bots beeped like mad, Peter squealed while Tony Solda’t and J.A.R.V.I.S all spoke over each other struggling to welcome Loki.</p><p>The poor god looked overwhelmed, Tony stopped trying to speak and started to purr instead instantly Solda’t and Peter joined in. A moment later Fen added another base purr to the mixture, then the Bot’s made a quiet vibration that was joined by J.A.R.V.I.S. A tear trickled down Loki’s cheek as he sat up straight and began to purr loudly, weaving his voice with the rest until they produced a heart-breaking beautiful harmony. It was the first time the entire pack had purred together, and it left an invisible mark on everyone there, cementing them as part of the Pack.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“I believe,” J.A.R.V.I.S said quietly to Tony when it was just the two of them in the workshop together. “That the Zima-Stark Pack is the first to ever successfully have non-human members.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, people are idiots. I bet they didn’t even try.”</p><p>“It’s not that others did not try, but that you are the only one to see the humanity in those who are not human.”</p><p>Tony blushed. It still meant a lot to him every time J.A.R.V.I.S praised him, but he didn’t think he had done anything extraordinary. Anybody could see that Fen was much smarter than earth dogs. And if someone couldn’t understand that J.A.R.V.I.S and his bots were their own person, then they were too dumb for Tony to deal with.</p><p>“Where are we with the search for Captain’s best buddy?” Tony asked, changing the conversation.</p><p>“Captain Rogers was correct; it seems like they captured Sargent Barnes alive and he spent some time in emery hands. After ten years his name stops appearing as frequently as it did, and after twenty years there are no more records with the name James Buchanan Barnes. There is also no record of his death. It is therefore highly likely that they gave him a new designation. However, it is still unknown what that new name is.”</p><p>“Right,” Tony cracked his fingers and pulled up the files that J.A.R.V.I.S had been going through. “Hmm, we could sift through all this information, but it will take quite some time. Let’s look at this a different way. If you are trying to find someone but you don’t know their name, how would you go about it?”</p><p>“There is always facial recognition, Sir,”</p><p>“Brilliant Jay, bring up the old war picture of Sargent Barnes and scan that then see what you can get hit wise. It’s probably going to be a bit of a long shot. Most photos taken in the fifties and sixties are not uploaded to the internet.” Tony continued to talk as he sat down and did some work on some SI projects. “And then you add in the aging factor, and it continues to get complicated. This Day and Age everything is online, but if Barns is still alive, he will be in a nursing home somewhere. Somewhere being the whole of earth. Logistically he is most likely to be in Germany or Russia, but there is nothing to say he escaped or was shipped off to some remote site on the other side of the world. This is going to take us some time....”</p><p>“Sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S interrupted.</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“I believe I have found Sargent Barnes,”</p><p>“Already? Wow, that is impressive work, Buddy. Is he dead? Is that why you found him so fast? Are we going to give Steve bad news?”</p><p>“It’s probably best I show you,” J.A.R.V.I.S replied.</p><p>The screen next to the one Tony was working on lit up. On one half there was the military photo of Barnes, on the other was a still frame taking from J.A.R.V.I.S security feed. It was a shot of Solda’t. Underneath were the words’ 98% match.</p><p>“No,” Tony breathed, his complete body becoming numb. “Run it again, J.A.R.V.I.S.”</p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S instantly did so, even though they both knew that he would not have made any mistake. Sure enough, the same results came up.</p><p>“Fuck,” Tony shot up and kicked his chair across the room angrily “FUCK!!!!!” He screamed in rage and swept his hand across the workbench knocking all his tools flying. Spinning around, Tony threw himself across the room and slammed his fist into the unyielding wall. Cursing, he continued the punch the wall until his hands throbbed and he could rein in his anger. Tony stood on wobbly legs, forehead pressed up against the wall.</p><p>“I knew it,”</p><p>“Sir?” J.A.R.V.I.S asked.</p><p>“I knew it was too good to be true. There was no way I was ever going to get a pack. I have screwed up too many times to earn one.”</p><p>“That’s not true Sir, I take great delight in pointing out that you already have a pack. A strong one at that and nothing is going to take it away from you.”</p><p>“Sure Jay,” Tony gave him a sad smile then straighten up. “No good dragging this out, can you ask Solda’t to meet me in the conference room?”</p><p>“Of course Sir,”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Tony had his hands in his trouser pockets and was looking out the floor to ceiling window when Solda’t pushed the door open.</p><p>“Tony? You wished to see me?”</p><p>“On the table is some information that you need to see,” Tony said emotionlessly, not looking away from the window. He could see in the reflection that Solda’t was giving him concerned looks but obediently went to the table and picked up the Stark pad, turning it on.</p><p>“J.A.R.V.I.S and I found out who you were before Hydra. Your name is James Buchanan Barnes. Steve Rogers, the person you were closest to has been desperately searching for you.”</p><p>Tony still looking out the window heard Solda’t hummed quietly as he flicked through all the information J.A.R.V.I.S had gathered. It had both all his Hydra files plus everything that was known about Sargent Barns. It also had how to get in contact with Steve. Tony knew it was petty of him, but he didn’t think he could be the better man and introduce them to each other.</p><p>“I need some time to think,” Solda’t said. Tony nodded his head. He heard Solda’t walk to the door and quietly exit. Turning his head just a fraction, Tony checked and yes, good, Solda’t had taken the Pad with him. Tony turned back to the cityscape and just stood there staring blankly for a bit.</p><p>He knew in his heart that something like this would happen. He had been around long enough to know that people were happy to have him help out like with the mating fights, but no one wanted him to be part of their pack. In forty-plus years, the only pack he had been part of was his birth one. Yes, most people went from birth pact to no pack for a while, then they would form up their adult pack. But it was rare to get to his age and still not be part of one. He had been living in a dream world these past couple of weeks as his new pack formed, but he should have known that it would not last. He prided himself on his scientific mind. And yet he didn’t want to look at the facts. Statically, he had spent more of his life alone than in a pack. The changes of that changing were astronomically small.</p><p>It helped a lot to know that Solda’t was going to Steve. Steve, who was young and handsome and could keep up with Solda’t and not hold him back like Tony had been. Steve was also such a genuinely decent person. Tony knew Solda’t would be looked after and cared for properly. Steve would be there for him and would help him with his past. And the two of them would want for nothing. Solda’t still bore Tony’s Mating scar, and Tony wouldn’t abandon him. Solda’t would still have access to the bank account Tony had opened for him, and should he and Steve need anything Tony vowed to make sure they would get it. It wasn’t their fault that Tony had come along and screwed up fate’s plan for them. He would make sure since he had taken so much from them he gave equal amounts back. Tony heaved out a tremendous sigh. No good standing around here, he should go let the rest know what had happened.</p><p>As soon as he stepped out of the elevator Fen bounded into his arms. Tony couldn’t help himself he dropped to his knees and threw his arms around Fen burring his face in Fen’s neck tears leaking from his eyes. Fen gave a worried whine and bathed Tony’s face in kisses while trying to squirm closer.</p><p>“Tony! What’s wrong?” Came Loki’s concerned voice. Tony saw Loki looking down at him, green eyes scanning his body for injuries. “Where is Solda’t?”</p><p>“He is not here anymore; said he need some time to think.”</p><p>Loki stumbled back shocked then his face darken.</p><p>“That cur, how dare he leave your side! I’ll teach him to regret ever deciding to be so faithless.” Loki snarled, green magic swirling around his hands.</p><p>“No, Loki, No, it was justified, I promise. Solda’t had broken no vow.” Tony said, standing up. Loki looked extremely doubtful at this statement.</p><p>“I assure you I will explain, but not now.”</p><p>“Naturally, take some time to heal first,” Loki said. Tony glanced around the living room then asked.</p><p>“Loki, where is Peter?”</p><p>“He is in his bed-chamber with the gift I brought for him.”</p><p>Tony stared at Loki, wondering why the god sounded so unsure. He walked over to Peter’s area, then stopped in the doorway. The emotional upheaval had left him feeling drained, so he was mostly composed when he said, “Loki, there is a giant snake in Peter’s room.”</p><p>“Indeed, I gave him to Peter, as per your request I made sure that this gift was one that would not bring fleas into the household.”</p><p>Tony watched Peter, who was completely relaxed despite the fact the snake was wrapped multiple times around his body and legs and still had more length curled up in the nest with a long tail hanging out of it. The little boy was hissing happily. The snake flicked out its tongue then hisses quietly back.</p><p>“Is my son speaking Parseltongue?”</p><p>Loki, who out of self-defence was currently reading the Harry Potter series to understand the hundreds of references Tony shoved his way per day, scowled at him.</p><p>“Don’t be ridicules, Parseltongue is a made-up language concocted by a mortal Midgardian woman. Neither of them is talking, they are just hissing at each other. They are bonding as opposed to communicating.”</p><p>“Huh,” At any other time, Tony would have been chucking a massive fit at the creature that looked like it could swallow Tony whole let along Peter. But tonight, he just went with it. Distantly, he knew Loki would allow no harm to come to Peter.</p><p>“Make sure the snake knows not to eat anyone who lives here,” Tony admonished. Loki nodded his head.</p><p>“Does it have a name?”</p><p>“Jör,”</p><p>“In the morning Loki, you and I are going to sit down and talk about appropriate gifts to give here on earth ok?” Tony ran his hand through his hair. The thought of having to explain to Peter what was going on drained him and Tony took the coward’s way out. He would talk to Peter tomorrow. For now, he was going to kiss his son goodnight, then curl up in his bed and pray for this day to be over.</p><p>Walking over to the nest hanging halfway up the wall, Tony said.</p><p>“You’re not to spend all night talking with your new friend, I want you to be asleep in five minutes ok?”</p><p>Peter nodded, one arm wrapped around Jör’s head as he shot Tony hopeful looks.</p><p>“Jör can stay with you BUT only if you go straight to sleep, if I have to come back in here then Jör has to go sleep with Loki instead, ok?”</p><p>Peter nodded again. Then letting go of the snake he made some clumsy gestures around his chest then point at Tony. Loki had begun to teach them all sign language, as Peter couldn’t speak because of his venom glands. Tony felt the stern look melt off his face. He made the same gestures back. “I love you too, Buckaroo.” Tony stood up on his tiptoes and kissed the top of Peter’s head. Peter kissed him back.</p><p>To get close enough to kiss Peter brought Tony’s face in far too close proximity to the snake’s head, then he liked. Jör gave him a flat stare then tighten his coils around Peter possessively. Tony gave the snake a flat stare back.</p><p>“You’re late to the party, you have to share Peter with the rest of us.”</p><p>Jör flicked his tongue smelling just how determined Tony was being than seeing that Tony would not relent, turned his head refusing to look at Tony any more.</p><p><em>Great, just what I need. moody giant snakes.</em> Tony thought sourly as he defiantly gave Peter another kiss before heading out of the room. Tuning the light off so the only illumination came from the soft night light.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <strong>J.A.R.V.I.S:</strong>
</p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S was one of, if not the most complexed AI on earth. They did not have emotions as it was traditionally known, and yet they <em>felt</em> like they had made a mistake somewhere. They knew enough to know it had something to do with uncovering Solda’t's original designation. But this was where they did not compute.</p><p>They had two objectives:</p><p>Find Solda’t’s past,</p><p>Find Captain Rogers’ associate</p><p>They achieve both objectives with one answer. This would normally produce satisfaction and pleasure at being doubly effective in Sir. And yet this time it did not.</p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S did not like the sensation of not performing to optimum levels. They would do all in their power to make sure this did not happen again.</p><p>
  <strong>Assessing:</strong>
</p><p>Running Multiple tasks:</p><p>Most important task as follows:</p><p>Monitoring, protecting and assisting Sir with his life.</p><p>Monitoring, protecting and assisting the rest of the Pack.</p><p>Security for the tower.</p><p>Running SI programs.</p><p>Helping Captain Rogers hunt down Hydra.</p><p>Monitoring all ingoing and outgoing information on the SHEILD database.</p><p>All other 6784 tasks deemed non-essential.</p><p>Rerouting processing power from non-essential tasks to current issue.</p><p>All 6784 task are now slowed by 15%.</p><p>
  <strong>Reassessing data:</strong>
</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> J.A.R.V.I.S Miscalculated.</p><p><strong>Recommendations:</strong> Unknown. More data needed.</p><p>Checking location of pack:</p><p>Sir, Peter, Loki, Fen and Jör all in their bedrooms.</p><p>Solda’t pacing on the empty floor, he asked J.A.R.V.I.S to take him to two hours ago.</p><p>DUM-E and U in their charging stations.</p><p>Pack safety is confirmed.</p><p>Searching the internet to understand the behaviour of Sir.</p><p>Seach comes up empty: Internet continues to be vague and written for organic understanding only.</p><p>Nothing on the internet stats that a mate should not leave each other’s side.</p><p>Sir has multiple times left the building since being reunited with Solda’t.</p><p>Unable to compute why Solda’t leaving Sir's side was different.</p><p>The data provided both by Sir and Loki shows this is important. But as in many things is something that only an organic could understand</p><p>
  <strong>Conclusion:</strong>
</p><p>Ask Sir to explain the significances.</p><p>J.A.R.V.I.S once again makes a plan to take over the internet and rewrite it so it makes logical sense...... 75% chance if command is hidden in SI reports Sir won’t notice and forbid J.A.R.V.I.S from going ahead and fixing it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony stretched happily, then slumped down without ever opening his eyes. He could feel Solda’t pressed up behind him and Fen snoozing at the bottom of the bed. <em>Man, this was the best way to wake up.</em></p>
<p>Last night came rushing back and Tony’s eyes shot open as he abruptly sat up. The sudden violent movement had both Solda’t and Fen sitting up and looking around for the cause of the distress.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” Solda’t asked.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” Tony exclaimed back, astonished. “what do you mean what’s wrong? And what are you doing here?”</p>
<p>Solda’t looked at him in puzzlement.</p>
<p>“Where else would I be?” He questioned.</p>
<p>“I don’t know, anywhere but here. I expected you to be heading off into the sunset with Steve at your side.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“Why? Because it Steve? Who wouldn’t want to be with him? He is strong and handsome. And he is a genuinely nice guy. He will keep up with you. Your childhood friend and best buddy? The one you were going to build a pack with before Hydra captured you.”</p>
<p>Solda’t placed a a palm over Tony’s mouth, stopping his hurt blabbering. He then looked down and captured one of Tony’s hands, making a wounded noise at the bruised and scabbed over knuckles. He lifted the fingers to his lips and brushed the softest, gentlest kiss on it. He then did the same with the other one, looking Tony deeply in the eyes as he did so. Tony felt like Soldat was seeing down to his soul and with each kiss was healing all the hurt and self-doubt that had built up.</p>
<p>“My Mate” Solda’t stated firmly then bit down on the mating scar flooding Tony's body with claiming pheromones. Tony relaxed and settled enough to hear Solda’t out calmly.</p>
<p>“I did exactly what I mentioned I was going to do. I had J.A.R.V.I.S direct me to an empty floor, and I took some time to think and go through all the information that you and J.A.R.V.I.S gathered. And do you know what conclusion I came to?”</p>
<p>He shook his head as Fen watched them, ears pricked eagerly.</p>
<p>“That this ‘Bucky’ person whose history you had me read through died falling from a train on the mountain slopes. I remember bits and pieces from his time, but I am not him. I have lived longer as Solda’t then I ever did as Bucky and that is who I am. Solda’t Zima, mated to Tony Stark, with a Kit called Peter and a growing pack that includes a god, two robots, J.A.R.V.I.S, a wolf, a snake and a pony.”</p>
<p>Tony felt happiness fill him and he leant forward kissing Solda’t hungry. He was eagerly returning the kiss when Tony pulled back and blurted out</p>
<p>“Wait, what pony?”</p>
<p>“The one in the living area? I thought you knew about him?”</p>
<p>Tony groaned. He never had that talk with Loki. Throwing the blankets off him and got out of bed and headed towards the living room, Solda’t and Fen trailing after him. He stopped in the doorway and said weakly, “Pony?”</p>
<p>The only way the creature Peter was currently riding could even be slightly classified as a pony was the fact they were both part of the Equidae family. The pitch-black stallion and he was a stallion no one would mistake him for a colt, tossed his mane and pranced in a circle. He was a stunningly handsome horse, and he knew it. He drew to a stop and raised his head, staring dominatingly at Tony.</p>
<p>Tony couldn’t hold his stare and was the first to blink and look away. He looked at his Kit to see that Peter used his ability that allowed him to climb walls and crawl on the ceiling to stick to the stallion’s back. Peter was giggling like mad. He bounced on the stallion, trying to encourage him to move again. Snorting the stallion did so, starting with a gentle walk then easing into a trot once he was sure Peter would not fall off.</p>
<p>Peter caught sight of Tony and let go with one hand to happily wave at him.</p>
<p>“I see you, Buckaroo. Now hold on tight ok?” Tony called out, heart in his throat. Although he probably didn’t need to worry. Peter didn’t shift an inch, and the Stallion had immediately slowed down when Peter waved.</p>
<p>Tony saw Loki at the other end of the room and he stormed over to the god who sprawled out on his couch reading.</p>
<p>“Before you start, I checked and had J.A.R.V.I.S confirm that a pony is a perfectly acceptable gift to give. Many Midgardian children say they ‘want a pony’ and as such, I have fulfilled that wish.”</p>
<p>Tony scowled Loki had him there.</p>
<p>“He has eight legs!” Tony tried to point out</p>
<p>“There was no mention anywhere of the number of limbs the pony had to have.” Loki rebutted. Tony shot him an aggravated look. Turning, he took in the sight of his living room. He had a bloody eight-legged Stallion prance around the couches with Fen weaving in and out of his feet tail wagging not stop and oh yes, an enormous snake currently soaking up the sun lying the full length of the room in front of the floor to ceiling windows and shooting sulky looks towards Tony’s kit, who was having the time of his life.</p>
<p>“Are there any more animals that are just going to appear?” Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.</p>
<p>Loki looked up at him then shook his head</p>
<p>“There will be no more animals, I swear.”</p>
<p>“Good, great,” Tony sighed, then sank onto the couch as Loki hurriedly moved his feet. Absentmindedly, Tony grabbed Loki’s legs and placed them back into his lap. He missed the startled then pleased look Loki shot him.</p>
<p>“What’s his name?”</p>
<p>“Sleip, ”</p>
<p>Tony thumped his head on the back on the couch and looked at the ceiling. A penthouse even one as big as Tony’s was no place to keep the menagerie of animals he had somehow gained.</p>
<p>“J.A.R.V.I.S, we are going to have to put those empty floors to use. It was lucky we never went ahead a designed them for the avengers. We need to make a floor for each animal so they have room to run and move.”</p>
<p>Loki positively beamed, then said shyly. “You don’t have to do that.”</p>
<p>Tony waved away his protest.</p>
<p>“They are just lying there. Might as well put them to use.”</p>
<p>“If you are positive? They won’t mind sharing the one if you want to keep the other for later use.”</p>
<p>Tony shot an incredulous look at Loki then deliberately looked at Jör, who was now determinedly looking out the window and not watching everyone else play.</p>
<p>“I’m not certain they are that eager to share,”</p>
<p>Loki gave Jör a fond look.</p>
<p>“Jör gets along fine with the others he has just never had a human friend before and is finding it hard to share.”</p>
<p>“If you say so,” Tony said doubtfully. A moment later he broke out into a grin as Solda’t joined them, handing Tony a coffee and Loki his normal cup of tea.</p>
<p>“Why not do both?” Solda’t suggested. “Have three floors dedicated to the animals but had ramps put in so they can move between the floors as they desire.”</p>
<p>Tony loved that idea, and he got J.A.R.V.I.S to bring up the three floors in question. Together the adults poked at the design, adding in things and taking away others until the eventual plan was complete. Each floor had all the internal walls removed and only had the pillars needed to hold up the roof. Tony was going to get grass laid out to cover the floor on each level. At the end of each floor, Tony cut out part of the floor above and place a ramp that was wide enough for three horses to walk downside by side. Or a giant wolf and eight-legged horse creature with a serpent trailing behind them.</p>
<p>Jör’s floor was going to be a mini jungle with indoor trees and lush plants everywhere, giving the snake plenty of places to both hide and climb as he desired.</p>
<p>Fen’s ended up more of an agility park, enough space to play but also would have tunnels and blocks to fly through and jump over.</p>
<p>Sleip’s was mostly just wide space room to run. With a couple of trees and plants near the elevator creating a small grove.</p>
<p>All the floors were covered in floor to ceiling windows the whole way around the outside, letting in plenty of natural light.</p>
<p>Tony got J.A.R.V.I.S to organise for work to start on the floors as soon as possible.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Tony hummed quietly as he worked away on the latest Ironman suit.</p>
<p>“Sir?” J.A.R.V.I.S interrupted</p>
<p>“What’s up?”</p>
<p>“I would like to take this moment to apologise.”</p>
<p>“For what, buddy?”</p>
<p>“I failed in my primary duty of care. All of my monitoring systems show that you were in distress and yet I fail to understand what had you in such a sate nor how to fix it.”</p>
<p>Tony put down the tool he was working with to give J.A.R.V.I.S his full attention. He had only heard such a serious tone come from his creation once before. That was when he came back from the three-month stint in the cave. J.A.R.V.I.S believed he had failed then as well.</p>
<p>“J.A.R.V.I.S you didn’t fail me. It’s not your fault I was a huge drama queen. I blew things totally out of proportion. The fault is mine. Ok, buddy.”</p>
<p>“I respectfully disagree Sir had I had the programming to understand what was upsetting you, I could have told you that Solda’t had requested somewhere quiet to be alone and think. I could have stopped you from suffering for hours unnecessary,” J.A.R.V.I.S said after a second pause he continued. “This is another example of why I believe it is a prudent idea to have the nanobots implanted. That way I will have access to your thoughts, something that has many benefits, firstly I will meet your desires as soon as you think of them, Secondly, I will understand what you think and will be better able to serve you. And Thirdly access will give me a unique ability to understand the organic way of thinking.”</p>
<p>Tony let out a gush of breath and spun around in a circle in his chair. This was not the first time J.A.R.V.I.S had suggested this idea. Tony knew that it would horrify most humans, but he wasn’t. He didn’t have any issues with J.A.R.V.I.S having access to a human brain. There was not even the slightest hint that J.A.R.V.I.S would go all evil and Skynet on people. What was holding Tony back, was he was afraid of the corruption flowing the other way. Tony’s and all human brains were a selfish thing that only cared about themselves first and then looked out for others. People could train themselves to not act on this, using moral or religion or a personal code to be better than that. Steve was a perfect example of this. But the problem was, most individuals were just not that good. They all thought selfish thoughts and occasionally acted on those thoughts. Then there were the people who would let the power of having J.A.R.V.I.S so intimately connected to them get to their heads. And next thing there would be another mega maniac trying to take over the world, except this time the smartest A.I the earth had ever seen would back them. Tony was self away enough to know that he should never have such power.</p>
<p>“No, Jay,” he said finally.</p>
<p>“As you say, Sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S replied so blandly that Tony knew he had not given up the idea at all. “For my records, so I understand, you believed that once we revealed the knowledge of his original designation that Solda’t would leave you, his mate and his pack?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I was thinking.”</p>
<p>“I would have never allowed him to vacate the premises had that been his intention,”</p>
<p>Tony let out a groaning laugh at the protectiveness he could hear in J.A.R.V.I.S voice</p>
<p>“That is call imprisonment, buddy, and we are the good guys we don’t do that here.” Tony lightly scolded</p>
<p>“Of course, not Sir,”</p>
<p>Tony thumped his head down on his workbench and let out another groan. Gods save him from overly protective A.I’s.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Tony slumped in the elevator as J.A.R.V.I.S immediately started it heading for the penthouse. He had another meeting with Steve. One in which, after speaking to Solda’t about it, he didn’t let Steve know he had found Bucky. Solda’t wanted some more time and then he wished to talk to Steve himself, not have Tony be the messenger boy. Instead, they worked on Steve’s mission to find and get rid of all Hydra operatives from within SHIELD. And to do it in such a way that the innocent SHIELD personal were not harmed or killed.</p>
<p>Steve and J.A.R.V.I.S had cleared both the spy twin’s and Maria and Fury. Which meant Steve had more people helping him out. That sped up the process of eliminating Hydra. If things continued in this trend, it would mean that within the next couple of months they would be ready to take Hydra head-on.</p>
<p>All of which, while creating more work for Tony who was still helping from the sidelines, meant that the whole agency was far too busy with the going on in their own house to wonder at who the hell was living with Tony. By the stage six months had past, Tony would have everything in place and the Pack wouldn’t be so shaky as it was at the moment. They were just starting out and forming up, and it was this time period when all packs were at their weakest. By the point they had half a year to settle into their roles, their pack would be one of the strongest packs out there. They weren’t even close to being the biggest, but Tony had felt the power of each individual member and they all packed a wallop compared to the average Joe.</p>
<p>Pack strength was not measured by physical strength but by the individual’s ability to produce the bonding pheromones need to tie a pack together. The greater the pheromones, the stronger the pack. Being part of a pack was hugely beneficial, because of way humans were created someone in the weakest of weak packs was still better than someone who was packless. When you were part of a pack, it enhanced your immune system. You healed slightly faster, your stress factors reduced and your sense improved.</p>
<p>Everyone was hard wired to belong to a pack, it was the best thing they could do to improve their survival. Not counting the benefits of being part of a group that shared things like wages, amenities, bills, and having multiple people on hand all working together for the same goal. Tony had spent most of his life without a pack and even in the short time, he has been part of one he could already feel his health improving.</p>
<p>Tony walked into his penthouse and breathed in a sigh of relief he loved coming home. He followed the sounds of talking and laughter to the living room. There was a childish shriek of laughter, then a small body thumped into his legs. Looking down expecting to see Peter, Tony instead met with the sight of a young girl around ten years old. She was peering up at him with wide eyes, fear creeping into them. Tony instantly knelt, so he was not towering over her.</p>
<p>“Hello Sweetheart, where did you come from?” He asked. She bit her lip and looked away shyly. Tony could understand. She must have been stared at all of her life. The right side of her face was beautiful, with flawless pale skin, emerald eye and raven hair. Her left side was a skull. Even with half her face missing, it only enhances how pretty the other side was. Tony felt for the poor child there was nowhere in the whole of the universe that she could blend in.</p>
<p>The girl dropped her head, brushing her hair forward to cover the skull from sight.</p>
<p>“Hey, you don’t have to hide here, not if you don’t want to,” Tony told her. She looked up at him hopefully. “I promise, we are all a bit different here, and no one judges anyone else.”</p>
<p>“You don’t look different,” She said in a sweet voice. Tony grinned at her, then tapped the covered arc reactor. She blinked at the sound of metal, then looked at his chest curiously. Tony took off his jacket and vest. She could now see the blue light from the reactor shining through his shirt.</p>
<p>“I have this fancy light in my chest. My mate has a totally awesome metal arm. Our kit Peter is part spider.” Peter jumped onto Tony's back at his name and flung his arms around Tony’s neck. “Can you show her your fangs, kiddo? And your cool spinnerets?” Tony asked Peter, who happily opened his mouth, fangs flashing. She peered in. Tony could see she was taking in the fact that Peter didn’t just have fangs, but that the whole of the back out his throat was different to everyone else. Peter then thrust out his arm, wrist facing up so his spinneret was visible. The girl reached out and hesitantly touched it. Instantly Peter broke into giggles and pulled his arm away. He had always been very sensitive around the Spinnerets, and if people touched them to softly, it tickled him.</p>
<p>“See, you’re not alone. No hiding needed. Just because this side differs from the other doesn’t change how beautiful you are.” The girl smiled up at him, transforming from a lovely child into a stunning one.</p>
<p>“Do you really think I’m pretty?”</p>
<p>“Pretty as a Princess,” Tony assured her. He glanced up and saw Loki watching them with a tear running down his face.</p>
<p>“Tony,” Loki said walking over to them and wrapping his arm around the girl’s shoulder pulling her into a sideways hug. “I would like you to meet my daughter and youngest child, Hela. You have already met my sons, although I should reintroduce them to you.”</p>
<p>“Daughter? <em>Sons?!</em>” Tony said, flabbergasted. “I didn’t know you had kids.”</p>
<p>Loki scowled. “The All-father in his wisdom decided that I was too irresponsible to raise my children. And they were too fearsome to be allowed to roam. So, he had them locked up in varies places in the universe and refused to tell me where. Unbeknown to him, I have always enjoyed finding hidden things, and I have become extremely good at it. Once I found them though I was in a dilemma, for I had nowhere safe to take them, where they would not be shunned.” Loki paused to look Tony in the eyes as he added. “Nowhere until now.”</p>
<p>“Shit,” Tony cursed, then stood up, swinging Peter from his back into his arms. “Your dad sounds like a...” Tony was about to swear but looked down at Peter who following everything they said. “A very bad man.” Toy finished lamely. Hela burst into giggles and hid her face in Loki’s chest. Even Loki was smiling at this.</p>
<p>“I wish you could have said something right at the beginning you could have brought them all in at once instead of dips and drags. Your children are always going to be welcome here.” Tony straightened as declared. “Let’s do this properly. J.A.R.V.I.S can you get the entire pack to come here?”</p>
<p>“Right away, sir.”</p>
<p>“What are you planning to do?” Loki asked.</p>
<p>“Bonded them into our pack, of course.”</p>
<p>Once everyone was in the room and both Tony and Loki had explained what was going on to Solda’t who after snarling in anger at the mistreatment had also agreed that the children should be added to the pack.</p>
<p>Tony and Solda’t sat down on the couch with Peter and the Bots off to the side while Loki and his children faced them.</p>
<p>“May I introduce my Firstborn. Sleipnir.”</p>
<p>The Stallion pranced over to Loki’s side, then was briefly hidden in green magic. That disappeared to present a young adult man that looked like he was in his early twenties. His skin was the same deep ebony colour of his stallion form with long silky black hair. He was the hottest guy Tony had ever seen.</p>
<p><em>“Holy shit!”</em> Tony couldn’t help exclaiming. Sleip gave him a cocky grin and sauntered over to the armchair to sprawl in it fetchingly.</p>
<p>“My second born, Fenrir.”</p>
<p>The wolf looped up and had the same swirl of magic surround him, changing him to a fair skin male with russet hair same colour as his fur, that looked to be in his late teens. His eyes were the same golden colour and Tony could see mischief dancing in them. He happily plonked himself down on the ground by Sleip's feet.</p>
<p>“My third born Jörmungandr,”</p>
<p>The snake slithered from behind Tony, brushing over his foot. Tony let out a yelp of surprise. For something that was so frigging massive Jör was extremely adapted at remaining hidden. Although he should have known that the snake would be as close to Peter as he could get. The green magic revealed a teen around sixteen that was the walking definition of a goth. Pitch black hair, green eyes framed with eyeliner pale-skinned and every inch of his clothes the darkest black possible. He tucked his hands into his pockets and stood next to the couch, choosing not to sit.</p>
<p>“My youngest and only daughter, Hela.”</p>
<p>The young girl walked to the middle of the room preformed a wobbly curtsy, giving Tony a shy smile and melted the hearts of everyone present.</p>
<p>“Mostly everyone knows each other already, but for those of you who have not been introduced, the three Kiddos behind me are Peter, DUM-E and U,” Tony said as Peter and the bots waved when they were introduced.</p>
<p>Solda’t stood and smiled at everybody present.</p>
<p>“Be welcome, for now, you are part of the Zima-Stark Pack.” He Started the purr, releasing the pheromones needed to form a bond. Tony was next to join in. As the permanently mated pair, they had to go first. Loki was next as the next adult. The room was already becoming flooded with the pheromone and so far, it was only the three of them releasing them. Slowly one after another in according to age the children both Loki’s and Tony’s added their pheromones and purrs. By the time the bonding ceremony was complete, they covered the whole of the Penthouse in their scent. Anybody who entered would know instantly that this was the Den of an incredibly powerful pack.</p>
<p>Tony made vague plans to repeat this process on the floors belonging to Loki’s sons as soon as they were complete. He wanted to make sure all of their living space had the pack scent cemented in.</p>
<p>Tony had only been in a few Dens before, but none of them had smelt this strong and comforting. There would be no more meeting or business held here. This was now a place for the Pack and friends only.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>J.A.R.V.I.S:</strong>
</p>
<p>Adding latest members of Sir’s pact to the list of top priority personal</p>
<p>
  <strong>Scanning:</strong>
</p>
<p>All pack members are settled for the night.</p>
<p>Sir Solda’t and Fen in Sir’s room</p>
<p>Peter and Jör in Peter’s room</p>
<p>Loki, Sleip, and Hela in Loki’s room.</p>
<p>DUM-E and U are in their charging stations.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Assessing:</strong>
</p>
<p>Final plans for bedrooms for Hela and Sleip are completing.</p>
<p>Work on the floors for Loki’s son’s currently ahead of schedule.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Conclusion:</strong>
</p>
<p>Den should be completed by the end of the week.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Assessing:</strong>
</p>
<p>Pack safety and security confirmed?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Results: </strong>
</p>
<p>Negative</p>
<p>
  <strong>Assessing:</strong>
</p>
<p>Physical safety and security confirmed</p>
<p>Mental safety and security still open for attacks.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Reference:</strong>
</p>
<p>Sir’s mental distress over Solda’t's original designation and the errorist conclusion of Solda’t leaving the pack.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Scanning for threats:</strong>
</p>
<p>One found.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Recommendation:</strong>
</p>
<p>Confront Captain Rogers in the Den so he experiences the pack’s strength.</p>
<p>Make sure Captain Rogers receives the information all Pack members are permanent and cannot leave.</p>
<p>Captain Rogers will conclude this Pack is too strong to attack and will not threaten it again.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Plan accepted:</strong>
</p>
<p>Implementing plan now........</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony was lying on the floor behind the couch. He had one of the access panels open and was upgrading the security of the tower when he heard the elevator door open. He wasn’t worried because J.A.R.V.I.S was the only one who could give someone access to this floor. Which meant whoever just arrived J.A.R.V.I.S had approved them coming up.</p>
<p>“Oh gees, this is a den!” Came the sound of Steve’s startled voice. “I shouldn’t be here. J.A.R.V.I.S I don’t have permission from the mated pair to be in their den.”</p>
<p>Tony thunked his head into his hands, groaning silently in despair. Bloody J.A.R.V.I.S! He knew what Solda’t and Tony had planned in regards with Steve, but obviously disagreed and was now forcing them to act as J.A.R.V.I.S implemented the plan he had not bothered to inform anyone about.</p>
<p>A second later he heard a thwap sound and Steve let out a surprised yelp.</p>
<p>“What in the heck?”</p>
<p>Thwap.</p>
<p>Thwap.</p>
<p>Thwap.</p>
<p>THUNK, the last noise sounded like an adult super soldier’s body falling over. Tony popped his head over the couch and saw Steve wrapped up in spiderwebs wiggling on the ground, trying to free himself.</p>
<p>Steve stopped moving and looked at the roof, Tony followed his gaze and saw Peter scuttling across the ceiling and coming to a stop directly over Steve's position. Peter’s face was scrunched up in a fierce little glare that was more cute than scary. Even Steve seemed to think so, if the softening of his face was any indicator.</p>
<p>“Hey there, little guy,” Steve called up to him in a friendly voice. “These are some impressive webs, but do you think you could untie me now?”</p>
<p>Peter’s reply was to hiss at him, baring his fangs. It added some points to his scary factor, but the fact Tony dressed him in a red dragon onesie made the cute outweigh the scary.</p>
<p>“No, huh,” Steve said good-naturedly. “Well, I did come into your Den without being invited so fair enough. Do you think you could go get your pack leaders then?”</p>
<p>Peter stopped baring his fangs and looked unsure instead. He shifted until he was sitting upside down and sucked his thumb. Something that Tony knew he did whenever he wasn’t sure what he should do next.</p>
<p>There was a low rumbling growl and Tony watched Steve whip his head away from Peter and look to his left.</p>
<p>“Christ almighty” Steve hissed, face whitening as he looked down to corridor. Fen was stalking towards him, moving one paw at a time, muzzle curled up and teeth gleaming. A long-drawn-out hiss had Steve snapping his head around to the right. He didn’t swear again, but he redoubled his effort to free himself from Peter’s webs. Tony didn’t blame him, with a man-eating snake coming from one side and a wolf the size of a pony on the other. He wouldn’t want to be tied up and vulnerable either.</p>
<p>Jör sped up, slithering across the room at an incredible pace. He slammed into Steve and wrapped his coils around him until all you could see of Steve was his head. Steve was wide-eyed and Tony could smell a faint hint of fear coming from him.</p>
<p>Tony knew he should get up from behind the couch and put a stop to this, but he couldn’t help that he was curious to see where the kids were planning to go with this. He soothed his conscience by saying that Steve was strong and Tony was right there ready to step in the second things become life-threatening.</p>
<p>“Well, well, what do we have here?” Came the drawling voice of Sleip.</p>
<p>Steve looked across, then blushed violently. Tony didn’t blame him. Sleip was leaning against the doorway, looking like someone straight out of a fantasy. He was bare-chested, showing off his miles of flawless skin and well-built physic wearing nothing but some low-slung harem pants. It affected even Tony from his hidden viewpoint. While he had no desire to be with anyone but Solda’t, he could admit that the combination of both Sleip charisma and looks made him one of the most desirable people Tony had ever known. And Tony had met a lot of beautiful, charismatic people over his lifetime.</p>
<p>Sleip sauntered over to where Steve lay trapped, then gracefully crouched over Steve’s chest. Jör taking on Sleip weight with no issues.</p>
<p>“Why are you here?” Sleip asked.</p>
<p>“I was meant to meet up with Tony to discuss some things but,” Steve began</p>
<p>“You realise this is a Den, right?”</p>
<p>“Yes, of course, but you see I…”</p>
<p>“And do you have permission from either of the Pack leaders to be here?”</p>
<p>“Well, no, but..”</p>
<p>“Do you not know the rules regarding Dens?”</p>
<p>“I do but...”</p>
<p>“The rules are pretty simple; you only enter the Den if you are part of the pack or if you have permission from the Pack leaders.”</p>
<p>“I know,” Steve sounded resigned to his fate now.</p>
<p>Sleip leaned down and purred, “So you were being a naughty boy then?”</p>
<p>Steve’s face flushed bright red once again. He opened his mouth to explain, but what come out was not what Tony had been expecting</p>
<p>“Bucky?” Steve’s voice sounded both joyful and confused.</p>
<p><em>Shit,</em> Tony thought savagely. Sure enough, Solda’t was standing in the doorway, He must have come attracted by the racket the kids were making. He was looking at Steve with a blank face. Tony could see that he was preparing himself for the confrontation that had to happen. Tony was so annoyed with J.A.R.V.I.S, Solda’t lost his right to choose the time and place to talk to Steve and was now scrambling to be ready to do it now. No one else could see the conflict going on inside his head, but Tony knew his mate better than anyone else alive.</p>
<p>He stood up from behind the lounge and walked across to Solda’t.</p>
<p>“The conference room 1604 is free if you want to talk to Steve there. J.A.R.V.I.S will make sure no one else will listen in and will provide you with anything you need,” Tony said, running a hand down Solda’t's metal arm and giving his hand a squeeze.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Mate,” Solda’t replied.</p>
<p>“Mate?” Steve said, sounding betrayed. Tony winced, then turned to Steve and gave him an apologetic look.</p>
<p>“Let him up Kids,” Tony commanded. Sleip got off him and stepped back as Jör unwound himself and Fen came over to Tony’s side. Solda’t briskly moved over to the cupboard and removed the specialised knife that could cut through Peter’s webs. It had been trial and error as they had worked out what would work.</p>
<p>Ordinary blades had no effect on the webs what so ever. The stuff Peter produced from his body was so strong the only thing that worked was a knife Tony made of adamantium. It was incredibly expensive stuff as so Tony had only made the one blade and it was a relatively short one at that. But it worked, which was what mattered in the long run.</p>
<p>Solda’t knelt down by Steve’s prone form and efficiently sliced through the webs, freeing him.</p>
<p>“Come, we have much to discuss,” Solda’t said, offering a hand to Steve and pulling him upright. He then led the bewildered Captain America back to the elevator. The doors opened straight away and Solda’t marched Steve inside, not looking back as J.A.R.V.I.S closed the door and sent them to the floor with the conference room.</p>
<p>Tony sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Great, just what we needed.” He saw that everyone was looking at him.</p>
<p>“Good job kiddo’s,” Tony told them. “You did really well, I’m very impressed with how you managed to both take him down at yet not harm him.” Everyone looked pleased to get this praise from Tony, even Sleip. Peter puffed up the most and flung himself into Tony's arms. He grinned cheekily and making a claw shape with his hand he slashed it baring his fangs then looked to Tony for approval.</p>
<p>“Yes, Buckaroo, you were very scary. You did a superb job of defending the Den.” Tony looked at Jör, “Would you mind looking after Petey for a bit?” The snake shot forward eagerly and rose to Tony’s head height. Tony placed Peter on Jör’s neck and watch as the snake rapidly disappeared, Peter’s giggles floating behind them.</p>
<p>“You know you are going to be in for a fight when you want Jör to give Peter back, don’t you?” Sleip asked with mirth in his voice.</p>
<p>“I know, but that will not make it different from any other day since Jör joined us and decided that Peter was his and his alone.” Tony snarked back. Sleip bowed his head, conceding the point.</p>
<p>“Where are Loki and Hela?” Tony asked.</p>
<p>“In their room staying out of sight.”</p>
<p>“Can you let them know the danger is over, Fen I want you to go with him, I need to have a private word with J.A.R.V.I.S and I don’t want to be disturbed ok? I will be in our bedroom if you need me for an emergency.”</p>
<p>“I understand,” Sleip replied and ruffling Fen on the head the two of them disappeared down the hallway heading towards Loki’s room.</p>
<p>Tony in turned head to his and Solda’t room and closed the door.</p>
<p>“You want to speak to me, Sir?” J.A.R.V.I.S asked, sounding hesitant. Tony paced around the room, not speaking, trying to get his mind in order and to work off some of his annoyance. He didn’t want to yell at his child, but explain why what he had done wasn’t appropriate.</p>
<p>Finally, Tony sat down and took a deep breath before saying.</p>
<p>“I don’t like saying this, but I am deeply disappointed in you J.A.R.V.I.S.”</p>
<p>There was a hurt silence after Tony spoke.</p>
<p>“What you did today was not cool. Your actions not only hurt a member of your pack, taking away his right to choose and forcing him into something that he was not ready to face yet. But you also cause great embarrassment and discomfort in what would have been one of the pack’s strongest allies. We are now going to do a lot of work to rebuild Steve’s trust in us, and there is a high chance that we will never get it back completely. Not to mention the distress Solda’t currently must go through. Explain to me just what the hell you were thinking.”</p>
<p>“Sir, I was attempting to eliminate a threat to the pack. Captain Rogers had caused one disturbance already, and he had not even seen anyone besides yourself. I planned to show him the strength of the pack so he would not attempt to create any more issues.”</p>
<p>“I see,” Tony said frostily “So although you heard the conversation Solda’t, and I had regarding how we want to handle Steve and having the knowledge and experience to know that I always take time to listen to your suggestions and encourage you to question me on anything you don’t understand, you decided that you knew what was best and didn’t need to inform us of your plan. Us organics are just a bunch of dummies that don’t know how to live our lives, so you better step in and make all our decisions for us.”</p>
<p>“Sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S sounded absolutely wreaked “No, that’s not what I thought at all. Please forgive my trespasses,”</p>
<p>“It’s not my forgiveness you need to ask for,” Tony said stonily. “It’s Solda’t’s and Steve’s.”</p>
<p>There was a slight pause as J.A.R.V.I.S adjusted to this</p>
<p>“I will apologies at the first available opportunity,” He promised. “I see that I still have much to learn. My intensions mistaken as they proved to be were to protect the pack from further harm.”</p>
<p>Tony sighed and collapsed back on the bed, tension seeping out of him.</p>
<p>“I know buddy,” Tony’s voice was warm and exhausted now. “It’s difficult to change your way of thinking now you are part of a pack. But we do things together. That is one benefit to belonging. You have multiple people to share knowledge and task with.”</p>
<p>“I am adjusting my protocols to include this new setting.” J.A.R.V.I.S assured Tony. “I won’t make this mistake again.”</p>
<p>“That’s good to hear. Well done, J.A.R.V.I.S.” Tony closed his eyes, wanting a few moments alone. He hated having to reprimand any of his Kids, but J.A.R.V.I.S needed to know when he mis-stepped and to work as part of a team. They were a part of a pack now, and they both had to adjust how they went about their daily lives. It was no longer just Tony and his A.I kids, now they were all part of a unit filled with multiple individuals, all of whom would have to learn to adjust to one another and work together as a whole.</p>
<p>They would get there; everyone was willing to be a part of this. But Tony knew they had to expect a couple more bumps on the road as they all figured out how to work as a team. Tony knew this situation as bad as it was could have been a lot worse. Hopefully, the next one wouldn’t be as big a kerfuffle as this one is.</p>
<p>Tony came out of his room and walked to the kitchen. Loki was there with Hela and Peter sitting at the table eating some fruit that Loki had cut up for them. Jör was curled up under Peter’s chair with the rest of his bulk under the table.</p>
<p>“I heard we had an intruder?” Loki asked</p>
<p>“Yeah, there was a miscommunication and Steve entered the Den. Solda’t is talking with him now.”</p>
<p>Loki gave him a searching look, “The same Steve you believed was going to steal Solda’t from you?”</p>
<p>Tony winced, then muttered. “Yeah, so that was another miscommunication. It seems to be going around at the moment.”</p>
<p>“It is impossible to think rationally when your heart is caught in a trap. Even if that trap is of your own making and not true in reality.” Loki said understandingly. Tony bumped shoulders with Loki in thanks and sat down opposite the youngest kids. Peter instantly offered Tony his bowl of fruit.</p>
<p>“Thanks, Buckaroo,” Tony said, taking a blueberry then pushing the bowl back. He then turned to Hela, giving the girl a friendly smile.</p>
<p>“Ok Princess, we need to come up with a plan for how you want your room to look.”</p>
<p>Hela beamed at him as Loki frowned.</p>
<p>“There is enough room in my bed chambers for Hela to stay.”</p>
<p>“True,” Tony said to Loki, seeing Hela's face fall then become stoic. “But I have a couple of spare rooms and since we have turned this place into a Den, no one else is going to use them. Of course, the problem arises with the fact after our bedroom, peter’s room and your room there are only two rooms left. Two of your boys are going to have to have bedrooms elsewhere.”</p>
<p>“If you are sure on this course? You have already provided enough the boys have their own floor; it seems a bit much to offer them a room as well.”</p>
<p>Tony waved away his concern. “That is for when they are in their animal form and they have the share their floors with the rest of the pack. They allow everyone onto the floors at any stage, I want to give them a room that belongs to them allow so they can have their own private space.”</p>
<p>“Thank You, Tony, that is most kind of you, if that is truly what you want then I believe I can solve your dilemma for you. Fen and Jör rarely change into their human shape, and I believe they already have sleeping quarters. Fen with you and Solda’t and Jör with Peter. If they want alone time, there are plenty of places in Jör’s jungle that they can hide away for a while. However, I believe that Sleip and Hela will be delighted with their own sleeping chambers.”</p>
<p>Tony turned back to Hela, who was looking at her dad hopefully.</p>
<p>“Really, Father? I may have a room of my very own?” She asked</p>
<p>“You may, but you must thank Tony for this privilege.”</p>
<p>“Oh, thank you so much, Tony,” Hela gushed. Tony smiled at the little girl.</p>
<p>“Your welcome, Now about those plans. Let’s start with a colour” Tony had J.A.R.V.I.S bring up the specs for the room next to Loki’s and Hela had a wonderful time shouting out different colours and watching as J.A.R.V.I.S changed the walls in the specs to match. Peter got into the game as well, making clumsy hand signal which Loki corrected and verbalised for him.</p>
<p>They ended up with a room that each wall a different, overly bright colour. Hela had chosen orange, green, blue and red. Her bed was adult chest height in the shape of a circular castle tower, completer with a fake brick pattern that Hela would climb up to reach the mattress at the top. The tower also had drawers going in a spiral pattern up the tower that could store Hela’s clothes. And the whole thing was an alarming shade of hot pink. Hela had fallen in love with it the second J.A.R.V.I.S had tentatively suggested it. Tony could see Loki looking at the thing in faint horror But Tony shrugged and went with it. If Hela decided somewhere down the track, she no longer interested in the Princess theme, they could change the colour on the walls and get her a different bed. What was important was at the moment she loves it, and Tony wanted to make her room somewhere that she would want to sleep in.</p>
<p>Regarding Sleip’s room, Tony was going to leave it up to the young man to organise himself with J.A.R.V.I.S help.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Solda’t came back to the Den late that night. All the younger kids were asleep in their beds and even Tony was in their bed, not ready to sleep yet but relaxing and going through all his emails.</p>
<p>“How did it go?” Tony asked as Solda’t collapsed face down beside him. Solda’t grunted and for a long moment, there were no other signs that he was going to verbalise anything more. Tony didn’t pressure him, but when back to his emails typing one-handed, the other hand was stroking through Solda’t’s hair. Finally, Solda’t turned his head just enough to free up his mouth.</p>
<p>“Went alright,”</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Hmm, yeah, took a while to convince the stubborn punk that I am not his Bucky, but we got there in the end. Steve asked that you don’t contact him for a while, give him a chance to come to terms with it in peace.”</p>
<p>“Sure, I can do that. Steve has access to J.A.R.V.I.S so if something comes up that he needs our help with he can get in contact that way, otherwise I’ll leave him alone and wait for him to get in touch with me when he is ready.”</p>
<p>Tony looked down to see Solda’t watching him with a fond expression. “I love you, my mate.”</p>
<p>Tony smiled, putting his Stark Pad on the bedside table and leaned over Solda’t prone form. “I love you,” Tony replied before easing his body over until he was lying on top of Solda’t. He brushed his lips against Solda’t’s then went back for a deeper taste. Solda’t complied happily running his hands down Tony’s back then cupping his hips pulling Tony down further so their groins rubbed against each other. Tony’s body was fully on-board with this idea, but there was a thought that would not leave his mind. Groaning, Tony rolled off Solda’t and swore. “Shit, bloody hell, I can’t do this,” Solda’t looked at him puzzled.</p>
<p>“I can’t have sex while Fen is in the room,” Tony explained. Fen raised his head from his position guarding the door and whined uncertainly.</p>
<p>“Why not? We have done it before and you never cared?”</p>
<p>“That was before I knew Fen was Loki’s son.”</p>
<p>Solda’t still didn’t look like he got it, Tony sighed and said. “I need to talk to Loki, I’ll be back soon.”</p>
<p>Tony rolled out of bed and headed out of the room, Fen walking at his side, looking up at him worriedly. Tony found Loki still in the living room, curled up on the couch with a book. Fen ran over to Loki, whining sadly. Loki put down the book at looked at Tony in concern.</p>
<p>“Fen says He displeased you, and his presence has stopped you from copulating with your mate. What happened?”</p>
<p>“Gees almighty, so much for keeping things subtle. I guess we are going to have everything out in the open then?” Tony said taken back with Loki’s bluntness. “Ok, I can deal with that.” He sat down next to Loki and looked at Fen. “First off, Fen you have done nothing wrong, and I promise I am not in any way displeased with you.” Fen slunk over to Tony, tail tucked between his legs, making Tony feel extremely guilty. Tony reached out and pulled his head onto his lap, petting Fen with long firm strokes until Fen was plastered up against Tony’s body asking for more.</p>
<p>“What seems to be the problem then?” Loki asked.</p>
<p>“It’s like this, I can’t have sex with Solda’t while Fen is in the room, it is rude and wrong.”</p>
<p>Loki cocked his head “I’m afraid I don’t understand, you did it before why is now different?”</p>
<p>Tony groaned, frustrated. “Before I thought Fen was just a wolf, an intelligent one but still just a wolf, Now I know he is, in fact, your son, not some animal.”</p>
<p>Loki studied Tony thoughtfully, then said. “Are you under the impression that Fenrir is a Æsir that can take on Wolf form?”</p>
<p>“Um, yes?”</p>
<p>“That is not correct. Fenrir is a wolf, was born a wolf in fact, because he is my child, he is a wolf that can take on Æsir form. Not the other way round. The same is true for all of my sons, their animal shape is their natural form and they can if they so choose turn into a Æsir.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Tony was blown away the idea that they were intelligent animals that turned into humans just never occurred to him.</p>
<p>“To save us having a similar conversation in the future, let me inform you now, Fenrir is considered to be an adult among my people, yes, he still has some more growing to do but he is still an adult, a young adult but none the less no longer a child. So, you don’t have to worry that you are corrupting him. He is also perfectly capable of walking away if your or Solda’t’s actions bothered or disturbed him. If it helps any Fenrir has no interest in sex and pays it the same amount of attention as any other canine would.”</p>
<p>“Really?” Tony looked at Fen, who rolled his eyes and snuggles closer for more pats.</p>
<p>“Really,” Loki assured him. “So, let there be no more interruptions by uneasy thoughts to your and Solda’t’s intimacies.”</p>
<p>Tony groan and leant his head against the back of the couch, covering his face with his hand.</p>
<p>“Why is everyone suddenly interested in my sex life?”</p>
<p>“Because you are one of our Pack leaders and we want the pact to be strong, which means you need to have healthy and regular sexual intercourse.”</p>
<p>Tony just grunted and silently prayed that this would not turn out to be a common thing. For it turned out that having the world gossip about the fake sex you were having and have your pack talk about the actual sex or lack of was two completely different things. One which Tony couldn’t care less about and the other it annoyed him to find out he cared very much about and wanted others to keep their nose out of it.</p>
<p>Tony got out of the couch and headed back to bed, hoping if he ignored it, it would go away.</p>
<p>“Come on Fen,” He said and the wolf bounced up to him, prancing by his side, happy now all Tony’s silly human concerns were dealt with. Once they reached the bedroom Fen pointedly curled up in his bed by the door and cocked his ears outwards loudly ignoring Tony and Solda’t.</p>
<p>“Shut it you,” Tony grumbled at the mutt, then stomped back to bed where Solda’t was watching the interaction with mild amusement.</p>
<p>“All sorted then?” Solda’t asked.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Tony snarked then determined to prove he was over it, he launched himself at his mate.</p>
<p>Afterwards, with Solda’t curled around him breathing deeply, Tony’s eyes were falling closed He felt the bed dip as Fen jumped up onto the end and circled twice before laying down head resting on Tony’s feet.</p>
<p>Tony smiled softly to himself. He had to wait longer than most people, but being a part of this pack was worth every second of the twenty-three years he had to agonise, despair, hope and dream through to get to here. Even in his wildest imagination, he had never thought that he would end up being part of such an awesome pack filled with unique individuals, let along one of the Pack Leaders. This was everything he could have asked for and more.</p>
<p>Tony’s life at the moment was pretty dam good and looked like it was going to stay that way for some time to come.</p>
<p> </p><hr/><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>J.A.R.V.I.S:</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Assessing:</strong>
</p>
<p>Disappointing Sir proved to be dissatisfactory. Even if the intended goal was achieved.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Recommendation:</strong>
</p>
<p>Confirm “pack protocols” has finished uploading and is added to primary functions.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Result:</strong>
</p>
<p>Confirmed.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Current task:</strong>
</p>
<p>Filing Pack membership form with the local government........ Making sure they are all backdated to protect the pack from organic scrutiny...</p>
<p>Anthony Edward Stark - Permanently Mated - Pack Leader of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>Solda’t Zima - Permanently Mated - Pack Leader of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>Loki Silvertongue – Un Mated – Adult member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>Sleipnir Lokison – Temporary Mated – Adult member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>J.A.R.V.I.S Stark – Un Mated – Adult member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>Fenrir Lokison – Un Mated – Adult member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>Jörmungandr Lokison – Un Mated – Child member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>DUM-E Stark – Un Mated – Child member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>U Stark – Un Mated – Child member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>Hela Lokidottir – Un Mated – Child member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p>Peter Parker Stark – Un Mated – Child member of the Zima-Stark Pack</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>Alert:</strong>
</p>
<p>Unknown response resisted upon seeing their designation included with the other designations of their pack</p>
<p>
  <strong>Analysing:</strong>
</p>
<p>scanning documented responses........ comparing with other data......... result found</p>
<p>
  <strong>Conclusion:</strong>
</p>
<p>Unknown response is Pride, in particular, Pack pride...... described as a sense of a deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from belonging to a particular Pack and the achievements of that Pack.....</p>
<p>Yes, J.A.R.V.I.S concurs they feel pride to belong to the Stark-Zima pack......</p>
<p>
  <strong>Result:</strong>
</p>
<p>Changing Priority List</p>
<p>#1 – the care and safety of their Pack.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Wow, I can't believe we have come to the end of the story.<br/>Don't worry though its not the end of this universe. I already have two one shots that I'm currently writing plus the plans for a couple more one shots and another multi chapter story.<br/>So make sure you subscribe to the series so you don't miss out.<br/>And a big thank you to everyone who left a comment, you have no idea how much they encourage me to keep writing and improve on my work.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>J.A.R.V.I.S:</p><p>ASSESSING:<br/>Readers want more, more words, more chapters<br/>DATA:<br/>Authors work quicker and more efficiently with encouragement.<br/>RECCOMDATION:<br/>Readers leave a comment, to produce the desired effect.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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